Rangers

Andy Campbell
BBC Scotland

Some tinkering to Rangers' system had been long overdue, with the side having not kept a clean sheet in five weeks and falling two behind in their previous two outings.

The switch to three at the back offered some advantages defensively but the formation's principle aim was to carry a threat on the counter, as exemplified by the Vaclav Cerny double.

While Rangers may have belied their status as underdogs, the result and display are not entirely surprising, given their wins in Malmo and Nice earlier in the competition and solid home victories against FCSB and Union Saint-Gilloise.

There's still work to be done to reach the Europa League last eight but, with no domestic fixture this weekend, Barry Ferguson and his players have a week to prepare for the second leg and the chance to set up a quarter-final meeting with Roma or Athletic Bilbao.

Image source, PA Media

Jose Mourinho was, as ever, good value in the run-up to this game and will likely hold a captive audience when his Fenerbahce side travel to Glasgow next week.

He certainly has the nous - and the players - to turn the tie around at Ibrox.

Captain Eden Dzeko looked particularly dangerous, while second-half sub Allan Saint-Maximin's dangerous delivery was nodded just wide by En-Nesyri, who was later foiled by Jack Butland. Anderson Talisca also tested the keeper.

And with Fred free from suspension to bolster Mourinho's options next week, the decider is all set up for a fascinating contest.

Vaclav Cerny may have scored twice but Cyriel Dessers just edged his Rangers' team-mate in terms of overall performance.

The striker scored the opener, set up the second and was twice denied by the offside flag in the second half before being subbed off.

Image source, PA Media

Aissatou Bah
BBC Sport Scotland

Having fallen 2-0 down in both games under Barry Ferguson so far, Rangers cannot afford another slow start in tonight's testing Europa League last 16 first leg at Fenerbahce.

Former defender Maurice Ross hopes Ferguson takes a leaf out of legendary former boss Walter Smith's book and adopts a pragmatic set-up against Jose Mourinho's side.

"I would like to think there will be a pragmatic approach. It's a big pitch. It's all about staying in the tie in European football," said Ross on the BBC's Scottish football podcast.

"And I think that a change of formation may work or, if not a change of formation, a change of principles.

"It's okay maybe playing a 4-3-3 but out of possession I think that needs to be more like a 4-5-1 and double up, certainly double up in the wide areas.

"It's about recognising are Fenerbahce set up to press? If they are, play over them. And I've never seen Water Smith's teams playing it through the back and playing expansive, lovely football. They stayed in the game and were hard to beat.

"And they played every 6ft 2in guy in the building. They had Stevie Whittaker in the middle of the park because he's six 6ft 2in and he can run. He's mobile. So I would really hope Barry considers having legs in the middle of the park."

We asked you to tell us the one thing nobody is talking about at Rangers.

Here's what some of you said:

Billy: The only constant this season has been the inconsistencies. Great performances followed by absolute dirge. The change of manager has all the potential to be one of the few positives. But it's the most important decision for a long, long time. Along with, hopefully, new ownership, there is light on the horizon.

Matt: We do have good young talent coming through such as Findlay Curtis and Bailey Rice. There are others such as Archie Stevens and Zander Hutton. Between now and the end of the season I believe these players will get more opportunities to impress.

Robert: Why appoint such a poor manager? Even as interim. Poor decision by the board.

John: Our defence, especially Jack Butland, are simply not fit for purpose. The only thing stopping us being further out of contention in the league is our midfield, as shown by our appalling goal difference compared to Celtic's. Basically, we're leaking from both ends.

Derrick: Barry Ferguson, Neil McCann and Billy Dodds were working as radio pundits because they are failed managers. Why on earth have they been asked to take over a massive club like Rangers is beyond belief. I want them to be successful, however early signs are not good. I fear a heavy defeat against Fenerbache.

Image source, SNS

Ianis Hagi has swerved questions about his Rangers future as he looks forward to a "special" night against Fenerbahce on his return to Istanbul.

The Romania forward was born in the Turkish capital when his father Gheorghe Hagi was enjoying a trophy-laden ended to his playing career with Galatasaray before managing the club.

Hagi, 26, said: "It's definitely special to come back here and play in the town where I was born.

"We have so many good memories of here as a family so it's special and I'm going to enjoy it on Thursday night.

"We talk before and after every game so he [Gheorghe] knows how important European nights are and how tough it is to get a result away from home.

"We've talked about the game. He obviously knows the Turkish leagues and Turkish teams really well so I'll definitely get some advice from him.

"But it's just special for me to play in a place like Istanbul, it means so much to my family and I. It gives me extra motivation to play well on Thursday night."

Having joined Rangers five years ago from Belgian side Genk, Hagi is out of contact this summer.

"I don't think it's the right moment to talk about my future," he said.

"My full focus right now is on Rangers and the game on Thursday. I've waited for a year to get back on the European stage so I'm too excited for the game to think about the future.

"It doesn't make sense because football changes really quickly. The club and my agents have to talk about that.

"For me right now - and it's an honest answer - I'm not really thinking about the future. It's just about what I can do in this game, then it's the next game and so on."

Image source, Getty Images

• This will be the third European meeting between Fenerbahce and Rangers, having met in qualifying for the 2001-02 Champions League, with the Turkish side progressing after a 2-1 home win (0-0 at Ibrox).

• Fenerbahce remain unbeaten against Scottish opposition in Europe (including qualifiers – P4 W1 D3), facing Rangers in Champions League qualifying in 2001-02 (W1 D1) and Celtic in the Europa League group stages in 2015-16 (D2).

• Rangers have progressed from just two of their previous 11 last-16 ties in major European competition, eliminating Werder Bremen from the Uefa Cup in 2007-08 and Red Star Belgrade from the Europa League on their way to reaching the final in 2021-22.

• Fenerbahce possess the highest shot conversion rate of any remaining side in the Europa League this season (16.5%), netting 14 of their 85 attempts on goal. They also have the joint highest, along with AZ and Ajax, xG per shot value in the competition this season of 0.15 (12.37xG).

• Fifteen of Rangers' 16 Europa League goals this season have come from open play, the joint highest total in the competition this term. Meanwhile, only AZ (16.4), Galatasaray (15.3), Real Sociedad (13.7) and Ajax (13.3) have created more xG from open play than Rangers (13.1).

Steven Gerrard would want a return to managing Rangers after the 44-year-old Englishman left Al-Ettifaq in January, according to former Liverpool teammate Stephane Henchoz. (Scottish Sun), external

Read Thursday's Scottish Gossip in full.

Calum MacDonald
BBC Sport Scotland

Image source, Getty Images

Rangers interim manager Barry Ferguson could have key defenders John Souttar and Leon Balogun available for the first leg of the Europa League last-16 tie against Fenerbahce on Thursday.

Balogun stepped up his return from injury with 45 minutes off the bench in Saturday's 2-1 defeat by Motherwell, but Scotland international Souttar has not featured in Rangers' past three outings.

Having conceded twice in each of their last three domestic matches against St Mirren, Kilmarnock and Motherwell, the sight of their first-choice centre-back pairing on Thursday night would be a real boost for Ferguson and the Rangers support.

"Everyone has travelled," Ferguson said. "I guess you're asking about John Souttar and [Leon] Balogun? Both of them trained again today.

"We'll need to wait until tomorrow to see how they react, but good to see them back training and hopefully available for selection tomorrow."

Among the travelling Rangers party is Turkey full-back Ridvan Yilmaz. Ferguson was full of praise for the 23-year-old, who is preparing for his first club match in his homeland since moving to Glasgow from Besiktas in 2022.

"He's a good player, the issues he's had at Rangers is injuries; now he's fully fit," Ferguson added.

"He's been playing in a position that's foreign to him at right-back, but he's one player I can rely on - he doesn't moan when I ask him to play different positions.

"I like his attitude, it's been first class, it's about him staying fit until the end of the season, because if he plays more games he can get better and better."

Calum Macdonald
BBC Sport Scotland in Istanbul

Image source, SNS

Rangers interim manager Barry Ferguson has been talking to the media before the first leg of his side's Europa League last 16 tie against Fenerbahce in Istanbul.

Here are the best bits from his news conference:

• Credited the work done in Europe to get to this stage, and is expecting a "really tough" game.

• Excited to compete against "top-class manager" Jose Mourinho and says Fenerbahce are serious contenders to win the competition.

• Ferguson is under no illusions about the scale of task ahead of his side, and says Rangers will have to be at their "very best" to get a positive result.

• He dismissed notions of Mourinho being a "defensive" coach having watched 10 of Fenerbahce's recent matches.

• Ferguson is taking inspiration from managers he played under in Walter Smith, Dick Advocaat and Alex McLeish, and understands "you have to play in a different way" in European competition.

• Team news: John Souttar and Leon Balogun have both trained and will "hopefully" be available for selection.

The looming new ownership at Ibrox is the glimmer of light in a season that has plumbed the depths.

Club legend Barry Ferguson is holding the fort until summer after Philippe Clement finally paid the price for dismal results, including the Scottish Cup humiliation against Queen's Park.

While Rangers are simply playing out time on the domestic front, their European campaign remains alive for now, with Jose Mourinho's Fenerbahce the last-16 obstacle.

While it has been a tumultuous campaign for Rangers, you know your club best, so tell us the one thing - good or bad - nobody us talking about at Ibrox.

Let us know., external

Image source, SNS

Are Rangers players, as Steven Naismith claims, wilting under the pressure of performing for the club?

Scottish coach and analyst John Walker believes the issues are more tactical than psychological.

"Footballers have been given information since they were 11 years old, more often than not as positional play information because of the influence Pep Guardiola's had," said Walker on the BBC's Scottish Football podcast.

"Footballers like Mohamed Diomande and Nicolas Raskin expect to receive the ball and know where their team-mates are all the time, Rangers haven't had that.

"All this psychological stuff and the pressure at Ibrox, it's nonsense. There was a stat, Scottish football is the most intense league in Europe. It's all in your face, it's all aggressive, it's constantly balls into your box.

"Players like Diomande and Raskin can't cope with that if you don't have a clear style of play. They receive the ball, they've got players in their faces and they don't have players where they should be.

"You've got Vaclav Cerny and Ianis Hagi both playing as 10s when you've already got a 10 in there, you've got two strikers so you can't find them with the ball.

"It just goes full-back, centre-half and then the crowd start to groan in Ibrox and that's where people like Naismith can say it's a psychological problem.

"James Tavernier's got to a European final, he's won a title at Rangers, he's won trophies at Rangers, so it's not a psychological problem, it's a football problem. When the football's right, the players are fine."

Calum Macdonald
BBC Sport Scotland in Istanbul

Image source, Getty Images

Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho has been speaking to the media before his side's Europa league last-16 match with Rangers.

Here are the key points from the self-proclaimed 'Special One':

• In reference to the recent controversy following his side's match against Galatasaray, Mourinho says: "On the pitch there have been difficult moments. We always respect our opponents, so yes we've had problems on the pitch. Outside of the pitch, I don't think we have had a difficult moment."

• Mourinho refused to answer when asked about sacked Rangers manager Philippe Clement's criticism of his "defensive" style of play.

• He believes it will be "much more difficult" against a Rangers side led by "pragmatic" Barry Ferguson rather than Clement because the Belgian was "much more worried about philosophy rather than results".

• On interim boss Ferguson, he adds: "I don't know a lot about his career as a coach, but I respect the emotional connection between him and his club. I think that's a very important thing, the connection."

• His time in Scotland doing his coaching badges was fantastic for him both professionally and personally, but Mourinho says his visit wasn't great for the Largs pubs as he only drank sparkling water.

• "Why not" was his response when asked if he'd like to manage in Scotland, but he pointed out that he has a job which excites him and his focus is only on that.

• Asked if he still gets Rangers fans thanking him for beating Celtic in the 2003 Uefa Cup final with Porto, Mourinho said: "Not in Turkey as I've not seen a Scottish person. Maybe tonight or tomorrow. But yes, in London and in the south of Portugal some Rangers fans come up to me. That was my first big European final but I have respect for both big clubs."

Alasdair Lamont
BBC Sport Scotland Commentator

The Europa League and Rangers' performances in it arguably kept Philippe Clement in his role as manager considerably longer than otherwise would have been the case. And now Barry Ferguson must be hoping the players will continue to raise their game for the challenge of European football.

Certainly the performance turned in against Motherwell was of a similar ilk to the type of display shown all too often under the Belgian, but the question now is whether those same players can continue to transform themselves into an unrecognisable outfit on the European stage.

Defensively, Rangers look as weak as they have all season and desperately need Leon Balogun and John Souttar available, while Ridvan Yilmaz looks a safer bet than Jefte right now. The jitters even seem to have got to Jack Butland in recent weeks.

With nothing to play for domestically, the thought of the European run also coming to a halt must be too much to bear for Rangers supporters right now.

Thursday's meeting with Jose Mourinho's Fenerbahce is not their toughest assignment of the season, but Rangers might be at their lowest ebb yet and will have to rouse themselves perhaps like never before.

The players' mentality and desire has been questioned repeatedly this season, with good cause, but they have an opportunity for at least partial redemption if they can record another impressive European result and give themselves a chance of reaching the quarter-final next week.

The San Francisco 49ers-backed consortium poised to take over Rangers is considering Rafael Benitez as the next permanent manager at Ibrox. (Daily Record)

Kevin Muscat has also been linked with Rangers but he has reiterated his commitment to Shanghai Port with the club on the brink of exiting the Asian Champions League. (Daily Record)

Mystery still surrounds Ryan Kent's departure from Fenerbahce in Istanbul nearly five months after the former Rangers winger had his contract with the Turkish club terminated by mutual consent. (The Herald)

Queen's Park boss Callum Davidson plans to use on-loan Rangers defender Leon King as a central midfielder between now and the end of the season. (Scottish Sun)

Read the rest of Wednesday's gossip.

Image source, SNS

Colin Hendry has echoed the sentiments of fellow former Rangers player Steven Naismith by stressing "there is no hiding place" for the current team.

Naismith fears there are too many in Barry Ferguson's squad "scared" of the pressure and responsibility of representing the club, while Hendry says "psychologically, you've got to be on top form".

The former Scotland captain spent a season and a half at Ibrox from 1998, when they were the dominant team in the country, a stark contrast to the current climate.

Hendry admits the mental test of being "at it all the time" while playing for a club whose supporters demand success regardless of circumstances can be more challenging than the physical demands of performing.

"There is no hiding place," said Hendry. "That's part of being part of Glasgow Rangers. That's how it works.

"When I came back from England and signed for Rangers, I used to try and describe that when I was playing the Premier League, week in, week out, I was in a boxing match. So physically, when you come out of that game, after your 90 minutes, you knew you'd been in a game.

"But when you come up to Rangers, and with the exception of 10 or 20% of the games that you play, you're in charge.

"Even away from home, you've got the majority of ball possession and psychologically you've got to be at it all the time.

"That was probably the main difference I found. Psychologically, you've got to be absolutely on top form. Physically, it wasn't as draining, it wasn't as demanding, but psychologically, you've got to be at it all the time because there's only space for one winner.

"For a team that's been beaten three times at Ibrox, then the pressure, of course, psychologically, builds up on each individual player because they'll be thinking the next game, the next game, the next game, and they've got to win the next game. And that's how it is."

Jamie Currie
Fan writer

This Rangers team is wildly unpredictable from minute to minute in games.

Having fought back from two down to win 4-2 at Kilmarnock last Wednesday, the pace and intensity of the second half provided a bit positive about the Motherwell fixture.

Unfortunately, it was more St Mirren than Kilmarnock. Mistakes galore.

Senior players Jack Butland and James Tavernier made big errors leading to goals and then the team huffed and puffed but couldn't pull back the latest two-goal deficit.

There are nine league games to go and I'm hoping we get more more away matches after the split because going to Ibrox is an absolute chore.

As for Fenerbahce on Thursday, I don't have much hope of a result. It's going to be really difficult considering the shape we are in.

The only news that's keeping me slightly positive for the future is the takeover. It's badly needed and hopefully it goes through as soon as possible, so the new owners can start gutting this squad.

The proposed takeover of Rangers by 49ers Enterprises has been agreed in principle. (Mail), external

Former Romania forward Adrian Mutu urges Rangers midfielder Ianis Hagi, 26, to move to Turkish football, as his father, Gheorghe, did. (Herald - subscription required), external

Read Tuesday's Scottish gossip