Union Saint-Gilloise in form again for Rangers test

Kevin Mac Allister, brother of Alexis, is free from suspension to face Rangers

Europa League: Rangers v Union Saint-Gilloise

Venue: Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow Date: Thursday, 30 January Kick-off: 20:00 GMT

Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland Extra & Sounds, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app

Rangers know a win against Union Saint-Gilloise guarantees them a seeded play-off spot in the next round of the Europa League and may yet be enough to clinch a top-eight place and therefore automatic qualification for the last 16.

However, their Belgian opponents have the same ambitions as they look to maintain a remarkable turnaround in form this season.

Their story of having emerged from 48 years of obscurity by winning the second-tier title in 2021 is by now pretty well known, as is the role played in that rise from the ashes by the Brighton owner Tony Bloom and his analytical approach to player trading.

Their fairy tale-like performance in that first season back in the top flight, when they came so close to winning the title, was also well documented before the Champions League qualifier their second-placed finish set up with Rangers in 2022.

The Ibrox side, well beaten in the away leg, would go on to turn the tie around en route to their own return to the Champions League, but USG have continued to prosper.

They reached the Europa League quarter-finals that same season and have since established themselves as a force in Belgian football once more with a third-placed finish and another runners-up position as well as a first major trophy in almost 90 years as they claimed the Belgian Cup at the end of last season.

But it all looked like it was going wrong at the beginning of this campaign.

Keep the faith

Cup-winning manager Alexander Blessin departed for St Pauli and was replaced by former player Sebastien Pocognoli in his first senior management role.

It all began well enough for the Belgium international as he bagged the Super Cup in his first game in charge against the mighty Club Brugge, followed by an away draw and home win in his first couple of league games.

Things began to unravel when they faced Slavia Prague in a Champions League qualifier. A 3-1 away defeat and 1-0 home loss knocked them out, with a first league reverse against Westerlo sandwiched in between.

Though they recovered to beat Charleroi in their next league game, they would go on to win just one of their next 11 games, including a poor start to the Europa League, losing at Fenerbahce and Midtjylland along with a goalless home draw against Bodo/Glimt.

Some clubs might have binned the rookie manager at that stage, but USG kept faith with Pocognoli and things began to improve from the end of October. Just one cup defeat in 18 games since then has them back in the top three and three wins on the bounce in the Europa League show they are in good fettle coming to Ibrox.

Selection headaches

Rangers' injury problems are well documented, but the Belgians have major concerns of their own, compounded by the red cards shown by Nick Walsh (yes, that one) to defenders Koki Machida and Christian Burgess late in last week's 2-1 win over Braga.

Injuries to regulars such as Alessio Castro-Montes and Sofiane Boufal as well as the non-inclusion of the likes of Promise David, who has 11 goals domestically, in the European squad echo the issues also facing Rangers' Belgian boss Philippe Clement.

Kevin Mac Allister, brother of Liverpool's Alexis, returns from suspension to help make up the back three while the main threat to Rangers' hopes of victory will likely be 21-year-old Croatian striker Franjo Ivanovic, who has 13 goals from 26 games, scoring two in each of the past two Europa League matches.

But Ivanovic and the ineligible David aside, this is not a team that scores a lot of goals – just seven in their seven Europa League games and the lowest league total of the Belgian top five.

So while not to be taken lightly, a repeat of the triumph of August 2022 should not be beyond Rangers.