Image source, SNSRangers remain without John Souttar, Derek Cornelius and Mikey Moore with muscle injuries. Rabbi Matondo (knee), Dujon Sterling (Achilles) and Kieran Dowell (foot) are closing in on comebacks.
Falkirk striker Gary Oliver (hamstring) joins Ross MacIver (ankle), Lewis Neilson (ankle), Coll Donaldson (abdomen), Tom Lang (foot) and Aidan Nesbitt (foot) on the sidelines.
Image source, SNSRangers are unbeaten in 60 home league games against Falkirk (W51 D9) since a 3-2 defeat in November 1925. This is their first meeting since a 1-0 Rangers win in the Championship in January 2016, and first in the top flight since a 3-0 win in January 2010.
Falkirk have only won one of their past 46 top-flight matches against Rangers (D7 L38), a 1-0 triumph in December 2006 under John Hughes.
Danny Rohl is looking to become only the fifth Rangers manager to win his first five league games in charge, after Bill Struth in 1920, David White in 1967, Mark Warburton in 2015, and Giovanni van Bronckhorst in 2021.
After only winning one of their first seven league games this season (D3 L3), Falkirk have since won four of their past six (D1 L1). The Bairns have also won as many of their six away league matches this season (three) as they did on the road in the entirety of their last top-flight campaign in 2009-10.
Rangers are unbeaten in 52 league games played on a Sunday after a Europa League match (excluding qualifiers) on the Thursday of that same week (W44 D8) since a 3-0 defeat to Celtic in February 2011.
Image source, Getty ImagesRangers have shown an interest in Freiburg left-back Berkay Yilmaz, but French club Toulouse and others in the Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga are also eyeing the 20-year-old Turkey youth international currently on loan to Nuremberg in Germany's second tier. (Bild), external
Shanghai Port head coach Kevin Muscat says he has moved on from missing out on the Rangers job despite having "some real positive talks with some really good people". (The Scotsman), external
Rangers are considering naming current chief financial officer James Taylor as their new chief executive. (Scottish Sun), external
Former Leeds United director Victor Orta is the new bookmakers' favourite to be Rangers' new sporting director. (Glasgow Times), external
Image source, SNSEmmanuel Fernandez (centre) was struck by Teti Yengi's shot
The error that led to Livingston being denied a crucial penalty in last weekend's 2-1 defeat by Rangers has been confirmed by the Scottish FA's key match incident panel.
Livingston manager David Martindale had already revealed that VAR referee John Beaton had phoned him to apologise for not advising match official Ross Hardie to review the footage.
Now the independent KMI panel has unanimously agreed that the on-field decision was incorrect, that VAR should have intervened to recommend a review, and that a penalty kick should have been awarded for handball.
Livingston striker Teti Yengi's shot struck the arm of Rangers centre-half Emmanuel Fernandez on its way to goal when the score was 1-1 at Ibrox.
However, the KMI panel unanimously agreed that referee Hardie had been incorrect to disallow Mohamed Diomande's late winner for Rangers for offside in the same game - and that VAR was correct in intervene, with the goal standing.
Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter
Image source, SNSRangers midfielder Connor Barron believes they are moving in the right direction under Danny Rohl after the 1-1 draw at home to Braga moved them off the bottom of the Europa League table.
Rohl's side failed to take advantage of a one-goal lead and man advantage after James Tavernier's penalty was followed by Rodrigo Zalazar's second-half red card for a headbutt on Nicolas Raskin.
Nasser Djiga's misplaced header gifted Gabri Martinez an equaliser as Rangers arrested a four-game Europa League losing streak in earning their first point of the campaign.
"Obviously disappointed we didn't get the three points, but I thought for large spells in the game we were really good and dealt with the conditions really well," Barron said.
"I felt we got into good areas, but the goal killed us in the end. I see signs of progress there on the pitch, but the feeling is disappointment of course.
"I think we showed something we haven't shown in the previous Europa League games, so we take confidence out of that in terms of our performance.
"But in terms of result we need to go and work on that, and we fully believe that we can.
"We've seen a lot of differences and a lot of improvements. [since Rohl took charge]. I feel like we're playing with a lot more freedom and the boys are taking full advantage of it, but we need to go and pick up results."
Rangers now face having to win their remaining three fixtures to retain any hope of progression, with an away trip to Ferencvaros followed by Ludogorets at home and Porto in Portugal.
"100 per cent the belief's in there to go and do it," Barron said.
"That's our focus, but we've got a game around the corner on Sunday [at home to Falkirk] so full focus is on that.
Pain rather than pride was the first emotion for James Tavernier after an historic night for the Rangers captain on Thursday.
Against Sporting Braga, Tavernier scored his 21st European goal for the club, equaling the mark of Ibrox great Ally McCoist.
However, the opener from the full-back was cancelled out in the second half by the 10-man visitors to leave Rangers on just one point from five games.
"When it all settles down, I'll look back on it and be really proud of it, but ultimately I wanted the three points," 34-year-old Tavernier told Rangers TV.
"If I didn't or did score, I wanted the clean sheet. It hurts, but I'll always try and help the team no matter what.
"As long as we learn from this, and we've shown in the last couple of weeks that we're building more consistency in what we want to do."
Tavernier's first European strike came against FC Shkupi of North Macedonia in July 2018.
While drawing level with McCoist, the Englishman is still eight goals behind Alfredo Morelos, who tops Rangers' continental scoring chart.
Image source, SNSWe asked for your views after Rangers got their first Europa League point of the season with a 1-1 draw at home to Braga.
Here are some of your comments:
Ian: There are small improvements in some areas but the strikers are a mile off, all three of them, they don't know how to finish. It's a real problem plus they cannot defend. Danny Rohl has a real job on his hands to get this sorted, we are very shot-shy in front of goal, this is a real concern.
Del: Another calamitous mistake costing us dearly. Rohl taking an industrious and effective Connor Barron off instead of the accident waiting to happen Mohamed Diomande was a big error. Feel for him though as most of this squad should go play another sport.
Louise: Another showcase of our poor recruitment. How do we have an £8m striker who looks afraid of the ball and why was Djeidi Gassama always playing for cheap free-kicks? Once again James Tavernier gets us out of a jam and Jack Butland made some crucial saves - the old guard 'get it', but send the rest back on a one-way ticket. At least it was a point but there was no fight to take three.
Ronnie: Tavernier can say whatever he wants about Rangers still being able to qualify from our group but he just sounds ridiculous. We were gift wrapped a potential three points against Braga and once again we blew it. In fact we were lucky to escape with a point against 10 men. We are simply not good enough.
James: How can the manager keep picking these duds when Cameron and young Findlay Curtis are unused substitutes? Last night proved once again just how bad we are, we were worse against 10 men.
Bob: This is the worst Rangers team I have seen in my lifetime - and I am 70. Apart from Butland and Barron the rest were very poor. No fight, no fire, no passion. I don't agree with Rohl's assessment of last night's game.
Image source, SNSRangers have failed to win any of their past four home European games (D1 L3 inc qualifiers). They last endured a longer run at Ibrox between October 2010 and August 2011 (six games).
James Tavernier struck his 12th goal for Rangers across major European competition (excluding qualifiers) and 21st overall in Europe, equalling the mark of Ally McCoist as second most in the club's history.
Only Bruno Fernandes (12) has scored more penalties (excluding shootouts) across Europa League history than Rangers skipper James Tavernier (8). The Englishman has an 88.9% conversion rate from the spot in this competition.
Gabri Martinez netted the second European goal of his career - both have come in this season's Europa League away to Scottish sides after he scored against Celtic in October.
Rangers have failed to win their past eight games in the Europa League, their last joint longest winless streak was from 24 April 2008 to 20 September 2018.
'First time I felt Rangers competitive in Europe' - Rohl
Rangers boss Danny Rohl: "I think it's disappointing but I look at the first 60 minutes. It was the first time I felt my team is competitive in Europe. I think it's a step forward. But in the end we have to win and close the gaps.
"In the second half I felt we controlled the game. And then it's one moment, we made one mistake and conceded a goal. This goal looks very cheap. I'm not looking for excuses in this case. I know in the second half the wind gave a lot of problems.
"We have to improve to play 90 minutes at our highest level.
"You can see the table. We didn't lose the opportunity just today. It's about the last four games as well. 100% quality performance very soon but I've been here for four weeks and for 60 minutes I see a big difference.
"Today I really see the progress in our team performance. There is no question mark that it goes in the right direction. In European competition you cannot make many mistakes and this is something we have to work on.
"For me it's not about the character of the group when I see how hard they work since I'm here, how much effort they put in. There is of course pressure, there is expectation, you have to deliver. I will help them. I try always to be positive because I know the self-confidence of a player is such an important thing. If a player has confidence they will make the right decisions in the right moments."
Caleb Akpo-Young
BBC Sport Scotland
Image source, SNSThree years ago today Michael Beale was appointed Rangers manager, vowing: "I am here to win. That's the most important thing."
Replacing Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, it seemed a natural appointment given Beale was top of the English Championship with QPR and had previously served on the Ibrox coaching staff under title-winning boss Steven Gerrard.
Beale made a promising start to his tenure, winning 13 of his first 14 games, but couldn't wrest the title away from Celtic, who defeated Rangers in the League Cup final and Scottish Cup semis on the way to a treble.
Early defeats the following season put the Englishman under pressure from which he couldn't recover.
Rangers failed to qualify for the Champions League after being demolished 7-3 on aggregate by PSV Eindhoven, then league losses to Celtic and Aberdeen proved to be the final straw as Beale was sacked on 1 October 2023 after 10 months in charge.
Image source, SNSRicardo Horta scored from 30 yards as Braga beat Celtic 2-0 in Glasgow on matchday two of the Europa League
Robbie Neilson predicts a "tough night" for Rangers and their injury-hit defence against a dangerous Braga side in the Europa League.
Shorn of first-choice centre-backs John Souttar and Derek Cornelius, bottom-place Rangers are eyeing their first Europa League points at the fifth attempt.
In contrast to the Ibrox side's struggles, Braga sit fifth with three wins - including a 2-0 victory at Celtic Park - from four outings.
Speaking on the Scottish Football Podcast, former Hearts and Dundee United boss Neilson, who is now Lee Johnson's assistant at Belgian side Lommel, said of Braga: "They're a top, top team. The Portuguese Premier Division is a very good league.
"They've got a lot of pace in their team, a lot trickery in the front line and I think it will be a tough night for Rangers.
"One of the many faults Rangers have is the defensive line and they're going to be against some good players tonight with a lot of pace and a lot of direct running, so I think it will be a tough night.
"The pace and movement Braga have is elite level so I think it will be interesting to see what Danny Rohl does tonight.
"Does he revert to the 5-3-2? Or 5-4-1? Just to try and shore things up a wee bit, especially in the early stage of the game because it's going to be a difficult test?"
Image source, SNSRangers have won three of their four previous European meetings with Braga (L1), with all four matches coming in the Europa League in 2019-20 and 2021-22.
In all European competitions, Braga have lost four of their five away matches against Scottish opponents (W1), though their one win came against Celtic earlier this season in the Europa League. They could be the first team to win away at both Rangers and Celtic in a single European campaign.
Rangers have lost their past seven European matches, their worst losing run in European competition (including qualifiers). The only Scottish team to lose more in a row were Motherwell between 2010 and 2013 (eight in a row).
Braga have scored 22 goals in 10 European matches this season (including qualifiers), including three in a 4-3 defeat on matchday four to Genk. Only in 2019-20 (27) have they scored more goals in a single European campaign.
Braga's Ricardo Horta has more assists than any other player in this season's Europa League (three), assisting those goals in his past two appearances. He has also created the joint most chances (12) of any player.
Rangers head coach Danny Rohl believes Youssef Chermiti is ready to answer his critics after a heart-to-heart talk with the striker. (Record), external
Winger Rabbi Matondo is back in training with Rangers following injury. (Glasgow Times), external
Billy Davies, now in interim charge of Greenock Morton, feels slighted that Kevin Thelwell, sacked this week as Rangers' sporting director, did not respond to his offer of advice about Scottish football when he arrived at Ibrox after giving the Englishman his big break at Preston North End. (Record), external
Hamilton Academical manager Jon Rankin's 15-year-old son, Luca Rankin, has been training with Rangers' first team. (Sun), external
Club Brugge winger Carlos Forbs has revealed he knocked back an approach from Rangers in the summer while with Ajax before moving to the Belgian club and helping thrash the Glasgow side 9-1 on aggregate in Champions League qualifying. (Record), external
Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen face crunch time on Thursday for Scotland's ailing coefficient. (Scotsman - subscription required), external
Image source, SNSDujon Sterling has been added to Rangers' Europa League squad after Derek Cornelius was ruled out for at least two months.
Versatile Sterling, who hasn't played since April because of an Achilles injury, is nearing full fitness and played for Rangers Under-19s on Monday.
His return will give Danny Rohl much-needed options at centre-back in the absence of injured pairing John Souttar and Cornelius.
As Rangers prepare for the Europa League visit of Braga on Thursday, head coach Rohl revealed Canada defender Cornelius has undergone surgery on a muscle injury sustained during the recent international break.
"Derek has the surgery in the morning today, that means he will for sure be longer out. Minimum, the end of January, if not longer," said Rohl.
"We put Dujon now on the [European] list. But still, for him, after the first game minutes on Monday, this is a process.
"If you are out six months, it's not easy to be ready straight after one week. But it was a decision also for the next European games to cover this position, then hopefully in the next games."
After four defeats from four, Rangers are bottom of the Europa League table at the halfway stage and seeking their first points against a Braga side who won 2-1 at Celtic Park last month.
"They are well organised, they are very aggressive in how they play football against the ball, they have solutions with the ball, I think they will also come with confidence in this competition," said Rohl.
"But for us as well, it's the next challenge. We know we need points in this competition as well, this is always our goal.
"I want to see tomorrow a next step forward compared to the last two European games. It's important to play without mistakes, to play on the front foot, bring the crowd behind you, try something instead of being passive and just waiting, that's what I want to see from my team tomorrow.
"We have to deliver a proper fight and try to get points."
Raskin on 'difficult' start to the season
Rangers midfielder Nico Raskin discusses his "difficult" start to the season where he feared for his Ibrox future amid a fallout with former boss Russell Martin.
Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter
Image source, SNSRangers head coach Danny Rohl has been speaking to the media before the Europa League home fixture against Sporting Braga.
Here are the key points:
On the dismissal of chief executive Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell: "It's always not nice when some people around you get sacked. I had a good relationship with Kevin, with Patrick as well. They were also involved in the process when I arrived here. Now it's about moving forward."
On the upcoming January transfer window Rohl adds: "There are also still good people around me. They support me. I think this is crucial. I cannot do this alone or can't make decisions alone. I think it's important to understand we have a good structure in the club."
On whether his assessment of the squad may have played a part in the sackings: "I give my information to the board, to the club, what I think, how I see the situation, how I see the squad at the minute, which parts we have to improve. I think there's no secret."
He adds: "I think if you have a sporting director, then you have always a link to the board. Now the link is a little bit closer, because you go straight to some situations with Andrew [Cavenagh], but I think he was very clear in this interview during the week, what he expects, what he demands."
On how January recruitment might work and whether he would now have a bigger say in decisions, the German says: "It's always a decision together. You have to give your honest opinion about players, then there is the financial part, and then you look to other parts as well, and then in the best case you bring all the information on one table, and then in the end you make a decision together and you go in the direction that makes the most sense."
On the test Rangers face against a Braga side who lie fifth in the Europa League having already beaten Celtic in Glasgow in this campaign, Rohl says: "They are well organised, they are very aggressive, they have solutions with the ball. I think they will also come with confidence, but it's for us as well, a new challenge. We know we need points in this competition."
Rangers wants a "step forward" from his side, who are are yet to earn a point after four defeats. The German is looking to engage the Ibrox crowd who've been left flat so far in this campaign.
He adds: "On this level every mistake could be a big mistake. Play without mistakes, but play on the front foot, bring the crowd behind you, try something instead of being passive and just waiting."
Derek Cornelius had surgery this morning and is expected to be out until at least the end of January.
John Souttar and Mikey Moore remain sidelined and Dujon Sterling is added back to the European squad but more likely to feature in upcoming games given the length of his absence.
Alasdair Lamont
BBC Sport Scotland Commentator
Image source, SNSBraga come to Glasgow with the chance to become the first team ever to beat Celtic and Rangers away from home in the same European campaign.
So how have they fared since their last trip to Scotland? Pretty well is the answer, though they were somewhat surprisingly beaten on their last Europa League outing, losing 4-3 at home to Genk.
Those were their first dropped points in the competition, though, having added the scalp of Red Star to those of Celtic and Feyenoord, so they're still very handily placed.
Despite only one other defeat since the win at Celtic Park - a far-from-disgraceful 2-1 loss away to Portuguese league leaders Porto - Carlos Vicens' side are rather languishing in seventh place, below lesser-known clubs Gil Vicente, Familicao and Moreirense.
But as witnessed at Celtic Park, they are a useful outfit, with Rodrigo Zalazar, who came on as a substitute in that game, in particularly impressive form, now on 10 goals for the season.
So Rangers will have to up their game to inflict another Ibrox defeat on the Portuguese.
