Filip Benkovic admits he should not have played against Rangers

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Steven Gerrard’s Ibrox club Glasgow Rangers won against Brendan Rodgers’s Celtic at Ibrox last month.

Filip Benkovic injured against Rangers

Leicester City-owned Celtic defender Filip Benkovic has admitted to The Scottish Sun that he should not have played against Rangers in the Old Firm derby at Ibrox last month.

Steven Gerrard’s Rangers got the better of Celtic 1-0 at Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership on December 29.

The 21-year-old central defender, signed on loan from Premier League club Leicester City in the summer transfer window, started the match, but the youngster went off with a knee injury on the stroke of half time.

Benkovic – who joined Leicester from Dinamo Zagreb in the summer of 2018 for a transfer fee reported by Sky Sports to be worth £13 million – has admitted that he should not have started for Celtic against Rangers at Ibrox last month.

Benkovic told The Scottish Sun: “Before the game I’d taken some medicine, a lot of stuff, but it didn’t help. We had a few injuries already in defence and sometimes you get days like that.

“It was tough, you know. But I tried. I just wasn’t going to make it. In hindsight, maybe I shouldn’t have played. But when you’re a footballer you want to play in every game – especially that one!

“You play football for games like that. Those matches are different so you want to give everything – even if it’s on one leg!”

Title challenge

The defeat to Celtic means that Rangers have enhanced their chances of challenging the Hoops for the Scottish Premiership title this season.

Under Liverpool legend Gerrard, Rangers are a far better team than they were last season, and Brendan Rodgers’s Celtic have to take the challenge of the Gers seriously.

Rangers are second in the Scottish Premiership table at the moment with 42 points from 21 matches, level on points with leaders and Old Firm rivals Celtic, who have played 20 games.