Kev Could Toon In To All Of Us

Apr 6 2008 By Gavin Berry

MODEST Carlos Cuellar reckons Kevin Keegan could have been watching ANY of the Rangers stars on Thursday night and not just him.

The classy Spaniard has been linked with the Premiership side after Keegan made his second visit to Ibrox after taking in the Werder Bremen game in the last round.

But the SPL Player of the Year candidate claimed the Light Blues have done so well this season that his team-mates could just as easily be Toon targets.

The former Osasuna man said: "When a team's doing well it's normal to have interest from other clubs.

"We have done well in the league and made the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup so it's natural that English and Spanish teams are watching.

"There are a lot of good players here. But right now I'm only concentrating on Dundee United and the rest of the campaign.

"I'm focused until the end of the season - nothing else bothers me."

Cuellar admits that Gers lacked the freshness of earlier in the campaign in Govan on Thursday.

But he insists motivation for the remainder of the season won't be a problem.

And the Spaniard claimed the Sporting tie hangs in the balance after the scoreless draw at Ibrox.

Cuellar said: "The Lisbon tie is now 50/50 to be honest.

"We've managed to keep a clean sheet and a goal over there would be great but it's still finely balanced.

"The home leg wasn't one of our better displays but I don't know if you can simply put that down to tiredness.

"Maybe there wasn't the freshness that we had three or four months ago.

"But in terms of getting ourselves motivated for each game there are no problems.

"Everyone responds differently to the demands and the first leg was not one of our better showings.

"Our preparation for each game is the same. True, you may wake up in the morning and find you feel differently from the day before.

"But we are motivated no matter the competition."

Cuellar faces Dundee United this afternoon for the first time since he was at the centre of a penalty row in the CIS Cup final against the battling Taysiders.

With Gers trailing 1-0, the Spanish stopper challenged Christian Kalvenes inside the box but claims for a spot-kick were turned down.

And Cuellar denied that he had been let off lightly by ref Kenny Clark.

He said: "It wasn't a penalty, I was strong. It was two players doing their best, I was defending, he was attacking and I won.

"I'm sure we'll get another tough game from Dundee United because they always make it hard for us."