PEDRO Mendes savoured one of the most satisfying weeks of his football career yesterday and predicted Rangers will not be easily moved from the top of the SPL after their dramatic 4-2 defeat of champions Celtic at Parkhead.
The midfield playmaker, signed from Portsmouth for £2.5 million two weeks earlier, enjoyed a spectacular Old Firm debut with a fine individual performance capped by a stunning long range strike which put Rangers 3-1 up and firmly in control of the co
ntest.
Mendes, a Champions League winner with Porto in 2004 before moving to the English Premier League, already looks like an outstanding acquisition for the Ibrox club. The move also looks like being equally profitable for the player who last week was recalled to the Portugal squad for the first time in five years.
"Getting the call from Portugal was a massive surprise," said Mendes. "I've waited a long time for it, but it seems as if good things happen together. Today was a fantastic experience for me and I can only say good things about it.
"I thought it was a fantastic performance by the team and it is a great environment to play in. People spoke to me all week about how special the Old Firm game is and everything they said about it is true.
"This has been a fantastic move for me. People say 'oh, you are going from the English Premier League to the Scottish Premier League', but you can also say 'You are going from the English Premier League to Rangers'. It is a different perspective. This really is a huge club.
"I know the place was a bit down after the Champions League defeat to Kaunas, but the atmosphere has only been positive since I arrived. In training this week, I felt good about this game because you could see how much quality we have in our squad.
"We were given a difficult start to the league season, with three of our first four games away from home, so I think this win is massive for us. Psychologically, it is really important. We didn't want to go into our next game on seven points, chasing Celtic. Now we are top, we will have great confidence we can stay there."
But Celtic defender Gary Caldwell insists the defending champions can show they have the staying power and resilience to recover the lost ground.
"We showed last year we are strong enough to come back and we can do it again this season," said Caldwell. "We are the champions and Rangers have to take it from us. We hold our hands up to defeat today, but it is a long season."
Caldwell was involved in a running battle with Rangers striker Daniel Cousin who was eventually sent off for one indiscretion too many against the centre half and his partner Stephen McManus.
"It is a man's game and the referee has got to sort it out," said Caldwell. "There were elbows, knees and everything getting thrown about, but the ref sorted it out in the end. That's Rangers' style of play, they have done that against us for the last two years. We have combated it before, but we didn't do it today."
The full article contains 547 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
