Person hospitalised in crazy turn of events at Benfica ahead of Rangers EL clash – report
An unauthorised car “invaded” the pitch at Benfica’s Estadio da Luz on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the Portuguese club’s Europa League clash with Rangers, according to Renascenca.
The Portuguese news outlet reports that a “PSP agent” was hospitalised after he suffered minor injuries when trying to immobilise the vehicle.
It is understood that a person, who was arrested, managed to drive a car into Estadio da Luz due to the stadium’s gates being open before driving around the pitch for “a few minutes”.
It remains to be seen whether the pitch has been affected by the unauthorised vehicle driving over it but Benfica’s groundsmen will have only had around 48 hours to fix any damage that might have been caused ahead of the side’s Europa League group stage meeting with Rangers.
Steven Gerrard’s side travel to Lisbon in dazzling form having won all of their last nine outings across all competitions.
Rangers and Benfica have both won their opening two group stage fixtures against Standard Liege and Lech Poznan but at this stage, the Portuguese giants hold top spot due to their superior goal difference.
Gerrard’s men will take a major stride towards qualification to the knock-out stages if they beat Benfica, who are undoubtedly the toughest team the Gers have to play in their group.
A draw wouldn’t be a bad result either but we definitely want to see the Light Blues avoid defeat as that could bring Standard and Lech back into play unless they draw with each on Thursday.
Rangers’ players will be used to playing on tough surfaces due to Scotland’s weather and the fact that there are teams – like Sunday’s opponents Kilmarnock – who have artificial surfaces.
Benfica might not be used to playing on anything but a green carpet so this could be a strange advantage for the Gers this week.
In other Rangers news, Kris Boyd has tipped the Gers to offload this player in January.