JOHN KENNEDY has moved to clarify his remarks over Celtic being the best team in Scotland after Rangers defender Borna Barisic said it was ‘the biggest joke he has heard this year’.
Celtic’s interim manager says that his comments were taken out of context last weekend after he had watched his side put six past Livingston, and he has reiterated his admission that Rangers have been the better side over the course of the season.
But Kennedy stood by his belief that on their day, Celtic are still more than capable of being the top team in Scotland, and they will look to prove that by beating Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday.
“People interpret it the way it suits them and that’s the problem with some of these things,” Kennedy said.
“If I have to break it down, I was talking about going into a cup game against Rangers and my comments were basically that on our day I think we can still be the best team in the country, and that’s purely down to performance and the level we can reach. If we do that I think we can still beat Rangers on our day.
“I have always said in recent weeks that Rangers have thoroughly deserved to win the league because [of] consistency with them and [putting in] good performances over a longer period time than we did. And they picked up the most points.
“Again, I give Rangers credit for that, we are not hiding behind that at all. We have accepted the responsibility and part of the responsibility is that we have had a difficult season. But in my opinion, as I said, on our day in a cup match can we go and beat Rangers? Yes I think we can. That was the way it was meant.
“What happened is that some people grabbed part of the statement and made a story out of it. But just to bring clarity to it, it was just that on our day, if everyone reaches their levels, we can be the best team.
“Rangers have been the better team in the league this season, that’s plain and simple. We are not denying that. But come the cup game, a one off game, if we can reach our level of performance I still think we can have a high level that means we can win a game against Rangers.
“Beyond that then we will see what develops.”
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