Celtic centre half Kristoffer Ajer relishing the rare chance to land his debut title against Rangers

THE moment a player wins his first league title is hardly one he is ever likely to forget regardless of how it is achieved.

Yet, if Kristoffer Ajer helps Celtic to clinch the Ladbrokes Premiershipagainst Rangers at Parkhead on Sunday he will have a rare and special achievement which he can cherish forever.

Very few Celtic or Rangers footballers have had the opportunity to secure the league against their greatest rivals over the years.

That, though, is now a possibility for Ajer and his team mates following their 2-1 defeat to Hibernian at Easter Road on Saturday and the subsequent wins for Aberdeen and Rangers over Kilmarnock and Hearts respectively.

There was a chance Brendan Rodgers’s side could have been crowned champions by default at the weekend despite their woeful display in the capital if their nearest rivals had slipped up and lost.

Their giant Norwegian centre half, though, is pleased they have the chance to sew up their seventh consecutive title in style in front of over 50,000 of their own supporters and against their oldest adversaries.

“You want to win it yourself,” said Ajer. “If we had won it on Sunday then that would have been great. But if we win it this weekend that will also be good.

“When you play for Celtic you want to win as much as you can. For me, to win the league would mean a lot. It’s a possibility next weekend to win the league and that’s what we are hoping to do.”

If Celtic perform as poorly as they did in Edinburgh on Saturday, however, they will once again spurn the opportunity to complete the second leg of a potential second successive domestic treble.

They were cut open repeatedly at the back during the course of 90 one-sided minutes and were fortunate only Jamie Maclaren and substitute Vykintas Slivka netted for their hosts.

Scott Brown was no match for Dylan McGeouch and John McGinn in midfield and the visitors failed to create much in the way of chances in the final third.

Odsonne Edouard, who took over from the subdued Leigh Griffiths, netted with three minutes remaining, but, that aside, they were poor in attack.

It was perhaps the worst possible result for Rangers, thrashed 4-0 in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden eights days ago, as there is little chance their opponents will be so bad two games running.

“We didn’t perform at our best against Hibs, but hopefully we can do that next weekend, said Ajer.

“We respect all the teams in this league and Rangers will make it tough for us next weekend as well. We know we have to play at our best and we plan to do that.”

Celtic failed to match the combativeness of Hibs at the weekend and that will have given Motherwell a glimmer of hope ahead of the Scottish Cup final next month.

The Fir Park club are notoriously uncompromising in their approach to games at times and will have taken encouragement from how badly the Parkhead club dealt with the physicality of their opponents at the weekend.

“We know that all the teams in this league can punish you if you’re not up for the game,” said Ajer. “But we know that all the teams can punish you and Motherwell can, 100 per cent.

“Motherwell press you as well, they get in your face and they have a good team, that’s the reason they are in the final. But we have coped with that for the last two seasons now. You have to respect that and we will respect them when the final comes up.”

Ajer admitted he is unsurprised that Rodgers, the manager who has transformed him from a midfielder into a centre half and made him a first team regular, has been installed as one of the favourites to replace Arsene Wenger at Arsenal at the end of the season and is hoping he stays at Celtic beyond the summer.

“Obviously the gaffer has done a brilliant job here,” he said. “All the players and staff enjoy working with him and he’s done really well. When he came in I was a midfielder and he’s really helped me a lot to become a centre-half. He’s been good to me, as he has to all of the squad.

“I had hopes for my career when I came here as well, but he has been fantastic to me, helping me change my position. The rest of the staff, too, have helped me develop physically and with my positioning. Centre-back is the position I play now and will be the position I play in my career.”