ARTHUR Numan has predicted Celtic could struggle to juggle European and domestic commitments this season – and insisted Rangers can still challenge them for the Ladbrokes Premiership title.
Brendan Rodgers’s team moved four points ahead of Mark Warburton’s side with a game in hand with an emphatic 5-1 victory in the first Old Firm game of the 2016/17 campaign at Parkhead on Saturday.
Few people are giving the Ibrox club any chance of stopping their city rivals from winning their sixth consecutive Scottish title this season after the one-sided encounter at Celtic Park at the weekend.
However, Celtic crashed to a humiliating 7-0 defeat – their worst ever European loss - to Spanish giants Barcelona in the Nou Camp on Tuesday evening in their opening Champions League group game.
Numan, the former Netherlands internationalist, feels playing on the continent against Barca, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach in the coming months could take its toll on Rodgers’s charges.
Read more: Mark Warburton: Negativity in Scottish football has me depressed
And he refused to rule out Rangers, who take on Ross County for the first time ever at Ibrox in the Premiership tomorrow afternoon, staging a comeback and challenging for the league.
“I don’t think the players are there are thinking about how long it will take them to challenge Celtic for the title,” he said. “Maybe it’s in the back of their minds, but I’m not 100 per cent sure about that.
“Rangers can focus on the league now. Celtic have the European games. They have the travelling, can pick up injuries, players get tired. So hopefully Rangers can take advantage of that, do their job, win and try to stay as close to Celtic.
“Celtic beat Rangers, everyone was euphoric and happy. Then three days later you’re back down to earth again because you lose. For the players it’s difficult, it’s one of the heaviest defeats in their history.”
Numan made his debut for Rangers in a 5-1 defeat to Celtic at Parkhead after being signed from PSV Eindhoven for £4.5 million in 1998 – but helped the Ibrox club to bounce back and win the Scottish title that season.
He believes Warburton’s team, who have been heavily criticised for their performances in the first league meeting with Celtic in over four years, can recover from their embarrassing loss and contend for the Premiership.
“We tried to focus,” he said. “Yes, it happened. But we were in the dressing room the following day. Yes, we felt s***, but we couldn’t change it. We came together in the dressing room.
“Yes, we still talked about the game, about what went wrong, so we learned from our mistakes. But then we quickly drew a line and focused on the next game. We had Parma and we focused on training and techniques and getting it out of our system. Yeah, we had to move.
“It is also a tough one for this team, but hopefully they will learn from it. Maybe they are fired up and can get a result against Ross County. It is good that they play home.
"They can get their confidence back. I am sure they will be talking about the game that went on and especially the red card. There are so many more games to play.”
Meanwhile, Numan has backed Philippe Senderos, the Swiss international defender who was sent off for a deliberate hand ball on his first appearance against Celtic at the weekend, to recover from his disastrous debut.
“It was his first competitive game for Rangers,” he said. “He had only played in one friendly match. But for him it was a disaster. His team lost, he got sent off, he didn’t do well for their second goal and made a hand ball. You can imagine how he feels. It is not the best debut ever, but that is football, it can happen.”
Arthur Numan was speaking at a William Hill media event to promote the draw for Saturday's William Hill Ayr Gold Cup.
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