Ianis Hagi vows Rangers will see an 'even better' player as he opens up on emotional torment behind goal celebration

Ianis Hagi as opened his heart on the mental anguish of coping with the ACL injury that robbed him of more than a year of his career - and insisted he will become a better player than he was before.

Rangers’ Romanian midfielder scored his first goal in 16 months in Sunday’s 3-1 win over Hibs and his emotional celebration with the entire Ibrox team showed what it meant to him. Now he’s ready to kick on next season to become a major part of Michael Beale’s rebuilt Rangers.

Hagi said: “One thing is for sure, I have never doubted myself since the injury. I know how much work I put in and how much I love this sport. The challenges I have ahead, and I have had them before as well, they are definitely not as big as my ambition. So the only way I see it is I have to go through it, surpass them so I can tick all the boxes and be 100 per cent back to what I was before.

“And why not even better? It’s so much more mentally than physically this injury. Physically you get there but mentally it’s about how you manage the challenges that lie ahead of you. It’s definitely an injury that isn’t easy to come back from but I embrace everything that is put in front of me.

“I have done that as a kid, I had the pressure of the name and everyone pointing fingers at me at seven years old, everything he does he does because of his father. So for me, these were just another small challenges which lay ahead of me so I embraced them.”

The 24-year-old admits he leaned heavily on his superstar father Gheorghe during the dark times that followed the injury, sustained in January 2021 in a Scottish Cup tie against Stirling Albion. I am happy and I have the advantage of having a father who performed so well in the sport.

“I’d be stupid if I didn’t ask