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CELTS NOW TARGETTING FOUR IN A ROW - HINKEL

Andreas Hinkel

Friday December 12,2008

By Iain Macfarlane

ANDREAS HINKEL reckons Celtic can now stretch away from Rangers to claim four-in-a-row.

Last season Celtic battled on two fronts into March – before being knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona.

Rangers’ squad was stretched to breaking point as they played in the UEFA Cup and finally snapped in the closing weeks of the season as they juggled Euro and domestic commitments.

Faced with a hectic schedule of games, it was Celtic who nabbed the SPL crown on the final night of the season

But following a miserable campaign in Europe for both halves of the Old Firm the diaries are clear for 2009.

And in a sprint for the finish, Hinkel believes Celtic’s can have the edge.

It is a shame we went out but we can be professional now and focus, in the main, on the SPL title race

Andreas Hinkel

The German full-back said: "Rangers had a lot of games last season in Europe.

"It is a shame we went out but we can be professional now and focus, in the main, on the SPL title race.

“It will be a different situation from what Rangers faced. I think that their UEFA Cup run cost them the league when they were left with so many games towards the end.

“We won't have that problem now and we will concentrate 100 percent on the challenge ahead.”

"Winning our last Champions League match against Villarreal is good for the heads and the confidence for the SPL games coming up over Christmas," he added.