Rangers’ Weir plays down fixture pile-up worries

Rangers defender David Weir has insisted the Glasgow club will be able to cope with their impending fixture pile-up as they chase the three trophies they need for what would be an extraordinary 'quadruple'.

Rangers, who've already won the Scottish League Cup, are second in the Scottish Premier League but are only two points behind arch-rivals Celtic with three games in hand, and are in the final of the Scottish Cup.

But the biggest surprise of their season so far has been Rangers' run to the last four of the UEFA Cup with Italian side Fiorentina, who they face in the first leg of their semi-final at Ibrox here Thursday, all that stands between them and the final in Manchester on May 14.

The SPL have agreed to extend the league season by four days if Rangers reach the UEFA Cup final, where they would be up against either Bayern Munich or Zenit St Petersburg.

But under those plans Rangers would have to play their final two SPL matches and the Scottish Cup final in the space of five days.

If Rangers, whose hopes of winning a quartet of trophies this term are threatened by several injury doubts, lose to Fiorentina, the season will not be extended and they'll have to play their final four league games in nine days.

But Weir insisted: “I don't think you will hear anyone from our side talking about fatigue or feeling fatigued.

“We are football players and we are paid to play football games. They are coming thick and fast but we are prepared to meet that challenge and get on with it.

“It's not an ideal scenario, there is no getting away from that,” said Weir. “But we don't make these decisions.

“We have to focus on the next game – which is tomorrow and is a massive game for us – and as soon as that one is finished we get ready for the next one,” added the 37-year-old, available again after missing Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final win over St Johnstone because of suspension.

However Weir's fellow Rangers defender Carlos Cuellar branded the SPL's fixture plans “stupid” and “crazy”.

Celtic are upset the league could be extended at all, but Cuellar said they would be heartened by Rangers' congested end to the campaign.

“Their chances of winning the league will be greater that way,” Cuellar told Wednesday's Daily Record, a Scottish national tabloid.

“But if the league don't want to accommodate us or be more understanding then it's almost as if they want to see us struggle.

“All we need is one more week. To put us in this situation is stupid, it's crazy. But we must be strong enough to cope.”

The Spaniard added: “It's incredible that our own league can make things so difficult for us when we are trying to represent Scotland in Europe.

“This would not happen anywhere else. The situation is crazy. I can't believe how things work in this country.”

Football statisticians would note Celtic are the only British club to have won a quadruple — Scottish first division, Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup and European Cup — under Jock Stein in 1967.