Scott Brown insists Steven Gerrard knows Rangers had no chance of winning the Premiership before the shutdown.
The Hoops skipper took a swipe at the Ibrox side over their opposition to ending the season early.
Rangers voted against the league’s resolution to bring the campaign to a conclusion amid the COVID-19 chaos last month dubbing it “abhorrent”.
SPFL chiefs are still to decide whether the top flight will follow the lead of the three lower divisions.
But it looks increasingly likely with medical experts suggesting no competitive football should be played until August at the earliest.
Celtic had stormed into a 13 point lead over their arch rivals with eight games of the campaign remaining - although Gerrad’s side had a game in hand.
And Brown, speaking on PLZ Soccer, said: “I think their manager and everyone understood that they were never going to catch us.
“They said it in the press themselves - the only chance they had to win was the Scottish Cup so they pretty much admitted defeat already.
“For us it was all about going to Dubai and understanding that we lost that game to Rangers at the end of December but we had to make sure we put things right and we managed to do that.”
