Ally McCoist prays for Rangers to be aggressive against Dortmund
Ally McCoist is praying that Rangers repeat their performance from a week ago against Dortmund tonight and fears for them if they sit back and defend.
The Light Blues overran the German side at the Signal Iduna Park to take a 4-2 lead into the return leg tonight at Ibrox, and Gers legend McCoist believes they need to stick to the same style to complete the job.
Speaking live on talkSPORT this morning (Thursday 24 February, 09.55am) the club’s record scorer said: “I’m praying that Rangers come out and play the same attacking, aggressive style that they did in Dortmund, because I believe if they just sit back, defend, and let Dortmund have the ball it’s inevitable they’ll score.
“I think Dortmund were shocked at the way Rangers had come out of the traps [last week]… and I’m very, very hopeful that’s the way [Rangers] start at Ibrox tonight.”
The pundit bemoaned the fact that UEFA has scrapped the away goals rule, saying: “We could have lost 3-1 tonight and went through, but it’s not to be.”
But he echoed Gers fans everywhere in saying: “You can’t beat Glasgow on a European night. The atmosphere at Ibrox will be absolutely buzzing, I cannot wait”.
Huge occasion
It will be a delicate balancing act for Giovanni van Bronckhorst at Ibrox as he would be foolish to sit back and invite the Bundesliga giants onto his side.
While he will have been boosted by Erling Haaland again missing out, the visitors still boast plenty of attacking firepower.
The home side’s biggest strength is their own attacking play, when Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent and company are on form, as the first leg showed.
But having been burnt last week Marco Rose will not be shocked again and is sure to have adjusted his team’s set up.
Throwing caution to the wind would certainly be exciting, roared on by a full house in Glasgow, but also carries risk, but equally, hoping to hold out defensively seems the worse option.
The first goal in the game is likely to be critical to the outcome, but ultimately if they make it through the fans won’t care how they do it.
In other Rangers news, the talkSPORT man argued with his Celtic counterpart Shay Given ahead of both sides’ ties tonight.