Confirmed Rangers team news v Lech Poznan: Teenager & Zungu start in seven changes
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has made seven changes to his side for the final Europa League group stage clash against Lech Poznan on Thursday.
Prior to kick-off in Poland, Rangers announced via their official Twitter account that Allan McGregor, James Tavernier, Calvin Bassey, Steven Davis, Ryan Kent, Kemar Roofe and Alfredo Morelos have all been dropped and rested from the team that beat Ross County on Sunday.
Jon McLaughlin, 19-year-old Nathan Patterson, Borna Barisic, Scott Arfield, Bongani Zungu, Ianis Hagi and Cedric Itten all come in to replace them.
Winning group is vital
Gerrard’s men go into their game against Lech knowing that a win will be enough to secure them top spot in their Europa League group and potentially win them an easier draw in the first knock-out round.
If the Gers fail to beat Lech, they will have to hope they match Benfica’s result against Standard Liege or outscore the Portuguese giants on points.
Winning the group could be very important.
Not only would it mean Rangers could face a Europa League group runner-up in the round of 32, but they could also draw one of Krasnodar, Red Bull Salzburg, Olympiakos or Dynamo Kyiv from the Champions League.
If they finish runners-up in the group, they will play either a Europa League group winner or one of Manchester United, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk or Ajax.
We know which way we’d rather it goes but to win the group, the best thing to do will be to beat Lech Poznan.
Although it was just a narrow win in the previous tie at Ibrox when Alfredo Morelos’ second-half goal was the only thing separating the sides, we believe this team Gerrard has named is good enough to beat Lech on their own turf.
In other Rangers news, Gerrard’s former team-mate Michael Owen has predicted the outcome of the game.