RANGERS striker Antonio Colak last night admitted he gestured at Dundee United fans who disrupted the minute’s silence for The Queen at Ibrox after his opening goal because he was upset by their lack of respect.
A group of travelling supporters booed and chanted during the tribute to the late monarch before kick-off in the cinch Premiership match in Govan and referee Kevin Clancy cut it short.
Colak, who celebrated his 29th birthday yesterday, netted in the eighth minute and immediately ran over to the away section of the stadium with his finger pressed to his lips.
The Croatian internationalist, who also scored early in the second-half to secure a narrow 2-1 win for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side, stated that he had wanted to send a message to United fans.
“We were standing silently before the start of the game,” he said. “Everyone knows why. It’s all about respect.
“For me, when I scored, it was just my emotions. There was over 50,000 in the stadium and everybody had respect. But some people hadn’t had that.
“I think in that moment everybody should understand that. Afterwards everybody showed the right way of showing respect.”
United issued a short statement after the game explaining they had advised their fans there would be a minute’s silence before the game – but the Tannadice club refused to condemn the actions of those supporters who had failed to observe it.
It read: “Dundee United are aware of the actions of a small section of the crowd who chose to not respect the minute's silence before this afternoon's match at Ibrox.
“As a club, ahead of the game we reached out to advise our supporters of the pre-match arrangements with the expectation that the minute silence would be observed.”
Meanwhile, Colak, who took his tally for the 2022/23 campaign to nine with his brace against United, has admitted he had no issues with Alfredo Morelos being preferred to him in the Champions League game against Napoli on Wednesday night.
“I am always motivated,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether I play from the start or I’m on the bench. The coach knows what is the best for the team and I know that and respect that always.
“I always try to be ready because he’s the one who makes the decision and decides on the tactics. I have a lot of trust in him and that’s why I am always prepared for the situation.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s in training or in the games. For now I am happy with all the minutes I’ve played.”
Colak added: “I feel like I am repeating myself when I talk about how happy I am at Rangers. For me today the first and most important thing is that we won.
“I tried to give everything to find situations to score because that is my job, you know.
“This is why I came here and I just want to continue like that. I want to work hard, stay hungry and just score goals. That is the best feeling for me.”
Colak’s ruthlessness in front of goal was not matched by his team mates – Rangers failed to take full advantage of the chances they created in the final third and endured a nervous end to the encounter as a consequence.
The four-times capped forward believes the heavy defeats to Celtic, Ajax and Napoli have dented their confidence.
However, he is confident the Europa League finalists will improve in the final third because they are still trying to attack at every available opportunity.
“If you lose three games in a row it can affect you,” he said. “We are all human and it’s normal.
“We want to win every game and try to reach the highest level always. Sometimes if things don’t go for you then maybe you try to play safer. But we tried to run and run again and create chances.
“It can happen that it’s not so successful. But the important thing is that you try and try again. Of course, you can make mistakes but today we won and that’s the most important thing as that’s what we wanted.
“Now after this break we have we want to work on the details and be more effective with the chances we get. Then maybe score more goals.”
Colak celebrated his 29th birthday by bagging a brace and picking up the Man of the Match award against United - and he was pleased his second goal was set up by his countryman Barisic.
“We always speak and try to search for each other,” he said. “It was a really nice day, a goal from the right-back Tav and a goal from the left-back Borna. We try to search for these connections to create situations and I am happy I was in the right spot.”
