Balogun returns in two changes after van Bronckhorst update – Rangers predicted XI v Borussia Dortmund
Giovanni van Bronckhorst is expected to make two changes to the Rangers starting line-up to play Borussia Dortmund after sharing his team news.
The Scottish champions welcome Dortmund to Ibrox on Thursday [24 February] for the second leg of their Europa League play-off fixture.
Rangers won the first leg 4-2 in Germany and while it may be tempting to name an unchanged line-up, van Bronckhorst is predicted to make a couple of changes based on the fact that Leon Balogun has been confirmed to be fit.
Speaking ahead of the match in a press conference, 33-year-old defender Balogun confirmed that he’s available after missing the last three matches.
Van Bronckhorst also confirmed that Aaron Ramsey has been ruled out and will be unavailable to take on Dortmund at Ibrox this week.
As Balogun is fit, we predict he’ll come into the side to replace Filip Helander, who’s unregistered for the Europa League.
We also expect attacking midfielder Scott Arfield to be axed and replaced by Glen Kamara to shore up the midfield a bit more against a Dortmund team who’ll be eager to score.
Allan McGregor is predicted to start in goals behind a back-four of James Tavernier, Connor Goldson, Balogun and Calvin Bassey.
Ryan Jack, who was the man of the match in the first leg in Dortmund, and John Lundstram are expected to be joined by Kamara in the heart of the midfield.
Joe Aribo and Ryan Kent are likely to start on the wings while we expect Alfredo Morelos to once again spearhead the Gers’ attack as he hunts down the all-time Europa League goalscoring record.
In other Rangers news, a BBC Scotland journalist has reported that the Gers are set for major talks with their rivals next week.