Julien Laurens expects Rangers to beat Red Star Belgrade in Europa League
Rangers have been given a “really good draw” against Red Star Belgrade and should be “confident” of winning according to Julien Laurens.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side have been drawn against the Serbians in the last 16 of the Europa League following their rousing aggregate victory over Borussia Dortmund last night.
After the two performances against the Germans the Light Blues have been tipped to go further in the competition against a comparatively weaker side.
European football expert Laurens told talkSPORT this morning (Friday 25 February, 11.25am): “It’s a hostile place of course, the atmosphere is pretty amazing, they have a really good record at home in European competition overall.
“But this is a game that I think Rangers should be confident of winning. From what we’ve seen against Dortmund, home and away they’ve been really impressive.
“They’re a much better team than this Red Star Belgrade team.”
Fairytale to continue?
After overcoming the tournament favourites it would be fair for the Gers players to be confident against all-comers in the next round.
They have been handed an excellent opportunity to produce more memorable European nights this season against the side currently second in the Serbian SuperLiga.
Although they are the four-time reigning champions in their domestic league, Laurens pointed out Red Star are nowhere near the level they were in the 1990s.
They won the European Cup in 1991 with players such as Robert Prosinečki.
The danger for Gers now will be motivating themselves for a supposedly lesser opponent following the high of going toe to toe with one of the competition heavyweights.
The draw at Dundee United that was sandwiched between the two European legs showed how a fixture that does not generate the same attention can cause a slip up.
With Champions League qualification on offer for the winners of both the Europa League and the Scottish Premiership the players should have incentive enough to give everything for at least one of the two.
In other Rangers news, Ally McCoist has highlighted how special the Ibrox result was with the effect it had on his son.