Jon Dahl backs Colak to be a star for Gio at Ibrox
Jon Dahl Tomas son reckons that Croatia striker Antonio Colak will be a smash hit for Rangers this season.
The 28-year-old, signed for £2 million from Greek side PAOK, broke their hearts last year when his brace for Malmo at Ibrox helped to knock Steven Gerrard’s side out of the Champions League.
Blackburn Rovers boss Tomasson, who was in charge of Malmo at the time, said: “He’s an excellent player, and he made it tough for Rangers last season by scoring those two goals at Ibrox.
“Colak is a great person and excellent for the dressing room as well, always giving maximum effort.
“I think he will score goals for Rangers. He is a great team player, and I like team players. He has a great attitude but it all depends on the manager.
“I know Giovanni van Bronckhorst very well ( they were team- mates at Feyenoord) and he’s clever enough to make the right choices.”
Tomasson went on to take Malmo into the Champions League group phase last season and he saw enough in Celtic yesterday to think they can make a fist of it in the competition.
“Playing in the Champions League itself is a great experience for the players, the club and the country because of the level of your opponents – that’s why it’s the best competition in the world,” he said.
“I think Celtic are a well- coached side with a lot of quality players but, at the end of the day, they will need to show that once the games start.”
Celtic midfielder Matt O’ Riley, meanwhile, admitted that he wasn’t too worried by the mistakes against Blackburn – as long as they’re not repeated when the real thing starts.
“We’d rather make mistakes in pre- season,” he said. “The back end of last season, we were really sound defensively.
“We’re only three or four games in and people are still getting sharp. We want to raise our level and not make mistakes at the back but I wouldn’t just blame the defenders.
“If one person doesn’t do their job it kills the whole team but, overall, we’re in a good place.”
It was a feisty affair but O’riley welcomed Blackburn’ s physical approach.
He said: “It was competitive and that’s what we want.
“We have to handle it because we’ll come up against teams in the Premiership who’ll kick us to try to stop us but if we’re on it with the counter- press and crisp on the ball the rest will take care of itself.
“Jota’s not bad is he? It’s still early on so, hopefully, he can keep raising his level. He’s a great guy, which is the most important thing. ”