Ibrox Exclusive: McAvennie backs Rangers to avoid Europa League ‘catastrophe’ v Lincoln Red Imps
We’re delighted to welcome former Scottish international Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Rangers…
Frank McAvennie has backed Rangers to avoid a “catastrophe” when they face Lincoln Red Imps in the Europa League later this month.
Speaking exclusively to Ibrox News, the former Scotland striker claimed that the Gers would have to be at their best to overcome the champions of Gibraltar, but is confident that Steven Gerrard’s men will have more than enough to get the job done.
Lincoln gained notoriety in Scottish football when they caused a massive upset by beating Celtic 1-0 in Brendan Rodgers’ first competitive game in charge of the club back in 2016.
But McAvennie does not believe that the Gers will make the same mistake when the two sides meet on September 17th.
Speaking to Ibrox News, he said: “I don’t think they’ll slip up.
“It’s the same in every cup competition when you’re playing against lesser quality players. If you don’t go and do the job, just like Celtic didn’t, it’ll be tricky.
“There’s no way that team [Lincoln] was better than Celtic’s, but Celtic just didn’t do it. If you don’t go and play to the best of your ability, you’re running the risk of being knocked out.
“I think Rangers have just got to say ‘yeah, we’ll go there and we’ll beat them and move on’. It would be a catastrophe otherwise.”
Rangers are taking their first steps in the Europa League this season after being knocked out in the round of 16 last term by Bayer Leverkusen.
For their part, Lincoln are a semi-professional outfit, and have never made it past the second qualifying round of the competition before.
In other Rangers news, Leon Balogun has started life in Glasgow brilliantly.