Steven Gerrard last night gave a squad update ahead of this evening’s Europa League fixture against Benfica and there was much to be pleased with from a Rangers perspective.
The Gers gaffer reported, via the club’s Youth Tube channel, that there were no other injury worries and that he has an almost fully fit squad to choose from, George Edmundson and Jordan Jones miss out for obvious reasons although the latter wasn’t part of the continental squad list anyway.
He hopes to use his side’s previous experience against Portuguese opposition as a marker for the level of performance that we will need to reach, however, he didn’t give much away in terms of team selection:
“We have the majority of the squad fit and ready to but we have big respect for Benfica, they are a talented squad and have spent a lot of money. You can see why they are one of the favourites in this competition.
“We can tap-in to our experience from last year in Portugal but it is a different challenge and a different team. For sure, we will have to find a performance of the level of Braga and Porto.”
Benfica, like Porto and Braga before them, have an expensively assembled squad and will present the toughest challenge of this year’s group fixtures, that they lost 3-0 to Boavista on Monday should have little bearing on the end result.
Are Gerrard's Euro achievements under appreciated?
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We have seen more rotation this season than we have for years – probably since Walter Smith’s second tenure – and so far, the consistency from the players that have been selected has been outstanding, any positive result in the Estadio da Luz would be a huge step towards knockout football and just reward for the improvements that have been made by Gerrard and his coaching staff in repairing our battered continental reputation.