Youssef Chermiti says Rangers’ dramatic win over Hearts has taken the team’s title-winning belief to a new level.
Trailing the league leaders 2-1 at Ibrox on Sunday, the Portuguese claimed his first career hat-trick to close the gap to just two points with 11 games of the Premiership season to go.
The result ensured Danny Rohl’s men are bang in contention to win the big prize for the first time since 2021 after being 13 points adrift at the point where the head coach replaced Russell Martin.
Rangers are the form team in the country from the moment the German arrived at Ibrox, with Chermiti claiming there’s now a palpable belief within the squad that they can get over the line first.
‘That’s giving me a lot of confidence,’ he said of the 4-2 victory. ‘As I said, as soon as the team are confident, I feel confident.
‘The most important thing is the team and that’s the important thing for us, the confidence of the team, the mentality we are building.
Youssef Chermiti turbo-charged Rangers’ title hopes with his Ibrox hat-trick against Hearts
The Tunisian striker rounds off his hat-trick with a composed finished after a Gassama pass
Life hasn’t been easy for Chermiti at Ibrox amid a string of underwhelming early performances
‘Since I joined the club, I think we’ve been building a good mentality, good relationships with each other.
‘Yeah, we’re in the race. I think everyone likes a league like this, tight.
‘This is where you see the good players. The pressure is on, we are looking for the title, 100 per cent.’
Chermiti had to endure serious criticism having struggled in front of goal after arriving at Ibrox in the summer in an £8million move from Everton.
Asked what lifting the Premiership would mean to him on a personal level, he replied: ‘That would be everything for me.
‘I think that’s part of football and life, you have up and downs. On Sunday, I scored a hat-trick, today I can miss a goal. That’s football.
‘Since I joined to the club, I knew how big Rangers was and of course it is a pleasure to play for this club and I’m just enjoying it.’
Now with seven goals to his name, the turnaround in fortunes for the 21-year-old came when the home fans chanted his name at the full-time whistle.
Now Chermiti is targeting a title at Rangers and insists ‘this is where you see the good players’
‘It’s really important for me but, as I said before, it was me scoring three goals, but another player can be the same,’ he stressed. ‘The most important thing is the three points.’
Rohl appears to be getting something out of the player that was beyond predecessor Martin.
‘Everyone in this club gave me a lot of confidence,’ he said. ‘But I think everyone needs to be humble, everyone needs to stay humble.
‘Every game is important for us. I enjoyed that on Sunday but today is a new day, and we are looking for the game against Livingston (on Sunday).’
Rohl took the unusual step of playing Chermiti alongside new signing Ryan Naderi up front, with the pair combining well to pose Hearts problems.
Hopeful that it might be the start of something, Chermiti said: ‘We’ve been building a good relationship.
‘I’ve been knowing more about his movement, what he likes to do, he has been knowing more about my movement as well. So, it has been good.’
