Rangers ace Ryan Jack has to be ‘outstanding’ again v Red star
Rangers welcome Red Star Belgrade to Ibrox tonight for the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 hoping to emulate their success against Borussia Dortmund.
The Serbian champions received a bye in the last round of the competition by virtue of winning their group before the turn of the year and will come into the game high on confidence as a result.
The Light Blues themselves will be buoyant having beaten the Bundesliga giants to get to this stage and the Scottish Sun has highlighted some of the key battles to watch out for in their print edition today [10 March, page 54].
Mark Dingwall shared an image via his personal Twitter account of the newspaper story, which says Ryan Jack may be in for a tough night after what he describes as an “outstanding” performance against Dortmund.
Mirko Ivanic will be up against the Scot in the centre of the park having scored in both of his past two games so Jack will need to produce that level of performance again.
The Scottish Sun also highlights Connor Goldson’s tussle with Ohi Omoijuanfo and Alfredo Morelos versus Aleksandar Dragovic as key to the outcome of the contest.
Give yourself a chance
The first leg of any European tie is often a cagey affair and rightly so given the magnitude of the game.
Teams simply cannot afford to go gung-ho from minute one at this level because they will simply be picked off and by the time the first contest is over, they’re too far back to make a comeback in the return fixture.
That’s why Giovanni van Bronckhorst must be cautious to begin with tonight despite having home advantage at the loud and proud Ibrox Stadium.
It may be tempting to come flying out of the traps in an attempt to blow Crvena Zvezda out of the water and finish the tie in the first leg but the reality is that it will only backfire.
Start quick and grab one or two is the ideal plan before sitting back and letting the Serbians try and turn the game around.
The more you can frustrate your opponents, the more chances you’ll get in turn as they lose their discipline.
In other Rangers news, Ally McCoist has made a surprising admission over a Ballon d’Or winner who could have come to Ibrox.