Super Eagles newboy Fernandez delivers brutal Rangers verdict after title race collapse

Super Eagles and Rangers centre-back Emmanuel Fernandez has taken the blame for his side’s poor performance against Celtic in the Old Firm derby, Afrik Foot reports.

The Gers managed to overturn a poor start to the SPFL season with a 20-unbeaten domestic run from December 2025, putting them in a three-horse title race alongside Celtic and Hearts. However, they fell short when it mattered.

Rangers have lost to Motherwell, Hearts and Celtic in their past three games, knocking themselves out of the race to be crowned SPFL Champions.

Fernandez takes blame for Rangers’ fumble

It is now mathematically impossible for Rangers to lift the Premiership, and the defender wasn’t pleased with his defending in the run-in, admitting he could’ve done better.

“I couldn’t pinpoint an issue. But I just feel like maybe we needed to have a bit more fight,” the 24-year-old said in quotes revealed by the Daily Record.

“I can’t say we have been unlucky.

“I can take stick for it because there are certain moments I probably should have defended better.

“There is nothing I can say about my team mates – I will probably just look at myself, if anything.”

“We knew it was going to be a fight,” Fernandez continued.

“There were moments in games where we had to fight.

“But in football there are going to be moments where you struggle and go under in the 90 minutes.

“I feel that, as a young team if we are going to grow, you are going to struggle but you stick together and defend together.

“Then, when you come out of it, you have opportunities to score. That is something we have to improve on,” the two-cap Super Eagles defender concluded.

Away from the heartbreak of the Premiership failure, Rangers face the possibility of losing their coach Danny Rohl amidst interest from the Bundesliga.