After the bankruptcy and the restart at the fourth level of Scottish professional football, Rangers is back to the football front. With Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard as new coach, the Scots hope to be able to break pots in Europe this season. Rangers will first have to survive several qualifying rounds and will take on Thursday-evening against Croatian Osijek, which last season managed to put PSV in heels.
Osijek:
The price cupboard of Osijek is empty with a single Croatian cup from 1999, but that the Croats can actually kick a nice ball is well known in Eindhoven and its surroundings. In the preliminaries of the Europa League, the blue-wits managed to beat the PSV, who were much stronger, both 1-0 at home and at home. The goal scorers at the time, Borna Barisic and Petar Bockaj, will also be back again on Thursday-evening. “The fantastic results against PSV have given us the belief that we can also stand our ground in a European context,” says Barisic.
Osijek is therefore a team to be reckoned with, especially because the team is able to rise above itself in top matches. Of all twelve top matches of last season against PSV, Luzern and Austria Wien respectively and in their own country against Rijeka, Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb, the Croatians lost only two. Osijek is particularly dangerous in the changeover, although they miss two of their best players with center striker Muzafer Ejupi and possibly Eros Grezda. Grezda is the creative hub of the team and is currently one of the greatest talents on the Croatian fields. However, it remains to be seen whether the Albanian will get fit in time for the cracker against Rangers. Star player Gabrijel Boban, the son of Croatia legend Zvonomir Boban, is also in the rag basket. “It has not happened to us lately,” coach Zoran Zekic sighed.
Rangers:
Rangers finished last season in the Scottish Premier League in a meritorious third place behind Aberdeen and national champion Celtic, but wants to make a serious attempt this season to break the hegemony of archrival Celtic. In order to achieve this, the club managed to get none other than Steven Gerrard as her new manager. In any case, the Englishman started his Scottish adventure, because in the previous round, The Gers had hardly any fears of Macedonian Shkupi (8-0 over two games). However, the diptych against Osijek will be his first serious showdown.
Gerrard has already made his mark in Glasgow and has Rangers play in a 4-3-3 formation with Josh Windass and Jamie Murphy on the wings and Colombian Alfredo Morelos as center striker. Morelos, however, helped kill Shkupi with several chances and was also unhappy in the final round last season. Gerrard could therefore choose to pass him on Thursday evening, although he runs the risk of hurting the already fragile self-confidence of the Colombian. The good news is that Canadian Scott Arfield will probably be fit in time to strengthen Scottish midfield.
PREDICTION: Under 2.5 goals @ 1.64
