PEDRO CAIXINHA has admitted he embarked upon Mission Impossible at Ibrox when he attempted to derail the Celtic juggernaut.
The Portuguese flop arrived in March 2017 and lasted just 229 days at the struggling Govan club before being given the boot.
Caixinha watched in horror as the champions ran amok at Ibrox in April 2017 when they racked up a landlside 5-1 triumph – the identical scoreline inflicted upon his predecessor Mark Warburton in his league derby debut at Parkhead in September the previous year – and there were also a double dose of 2-0 reverses against the Hoops before the axe fell.
His European experience at the club was also fairly horrendous – or hilarious, whichever way you want to view it – with a Europa League exit from Luxembourg minnows Progres Niederkorn.
Caixinha, who is currently out of work after leaving Cruz Azul last September, still keeps an eye on Scottish football and gave his take on Neil Lennon’s side continued surge to silverware success.
He insists the Ibrox outfit’s 2012 liquidation and subsequent rise through the divisions had left them ill-equipped to challenge the Hoops’ dominance.
Caixinha, in a report in the Daily Record, said: “Rangers were involved in a process of descent to the fourth tier before I arrived and that completely removed the possibility of dethroning Celtic, in structural, financial and competitive terms.
“At that time, Aberdeen had taken the place of Rangers.
“Now, Rangers and Celtic are second and first respectively, but the truth remains that Rangers have not won any Cup yet. Celtic remain one step ahead.
“I hope that they will not surpass Rangers’ nine in a row.”
Jock Stein’s great team made history by becoming the first club to clinch nine in a row from 1966 to 1974, but this was equalled by the Govan outfit in 1989/97.
The Parkhead side are expecting to be awarded their ninth consecutive flag after topping the Premiership by 13 points with only eight games to go before the game was forced into lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Caixinha didn’t call too many things right during his brief and ill-fated stay in Scotland. Looks as though he will continue that trend for the foreseeable.
