May 16, 2002

Argentina forward Claudio Caniggia has thanked coach Marcelo Bielsa for his "brave decision" to select the Rangers forward ahead of Barcelona prodigy Javier Saviola.

The Rangers striker added that missing the chance to play in the World Cup "would have been a really depressing feeling for the end of my career".

Caniggia suffered a knee injury against Celtic in the Scottish Cup final and there were fears that he would miss out on Argentina's World Cup campaign but Bielsa kept faith with the veteran striker and picked him ahead of Barca prodigy Javier Saviola.

Caniggia said: "Marcelo Bielsa has been very brave in calling me for the national team because it's not easy to call a player of my age and someone who is playing in Scotland, a football league that not many people have the chance to see very often."

He added that the national team and the World Cup had preoccupied his mind in the past few months. He said: "I never stopped thinking about the national team because it's like that girlfriend that you never forget about."

Caniggia also talked about the injury and how he is recovering well from it. He said: "The injury I got on my left knee in the match against Celtic was as if someone was opening the door to my retirement but I can only see football in one way and that is to fight until the end and not to be scared.

"I was only afraid about what I had done to my knee I wanted to know immediately how bad the injury because at my age a broken bone is very difficult to recover from. But thank God it wasn't so bad and I hope to be fine for the beginning of the World Cup.

"Ten days have past [since the injury] and I already feel that I am improving and the knee is getting better quicker than I expected. I want to play immediately and I really suffer twhen I see my colleagues train."

Onefootball