Here we go. Rangers in red, with white socks. The stadium is more than half empty, which is very disappointing, although the Rangers fans are making a right old racket.

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Some more from Rangers manager Steven Gerrard speaking to BT Sport: "Individual errors get punished at this level so we need to eradicate those and, in important times in the match, we need to manage the game better to get us over the line."

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Rangers manager Steven Gerrard speaking to BT Sport: "We've got to be organised, have a structure and be hard to play against. Porto have to feel us. We've got to be aggressive in our defending and when our opportunities come, our ball carriers need to get us up the pitch and try to create. We've got some speed in there, some one-v-one merchants, but I'm really excited to see how they play. We shouldn't have too much respect for them. We know they are a good team and have good players but so have we and we've come here to take something from the game."

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Journalist Ben Palmer's snap of the home sections in Portugal hint that tonight will be far from a sell-out crowd.

Billy Dodds
Former Rangers striker on Sportsound

Neil McCann
Former Rangers winger on BBC Sportsound

Rangers’ Alfredo Morelos is another red hot striker, with nine of his 15 goals this term coming in Europe.

Standing in his way tonight is Pepe, a master of the dark arts with three Champions League winners’ medals from his time at Real Madrid.

He’s 36 these days but the vastly experienced defender still presents a formidable barrier.

"There will be a lot of really intriguing key battles across the pitch but I'm sure all eyes will be on that one,” said Rangers manager Steven Gerrard at yesterday’s media conference.

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Odsonne Edouard is a striker bang in form, with 10 goals already this season.

Lazio sporting director Igli Tare has previously revealed his admiration for the 21-year-old Frenchman but boss Simone Inzaghi insists there is a lot more to Celtic.

Inzaghi said: "Celtic has lots of great players. Just as good as he is up front, they have other good players who are on the wings, great players in defence where they are nice and physical and they even have a good goalkeeper who has played in the Premier League.”

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Neil McCann
Former Rangers winger on BBC Sportsound

Porto boss Sergio Conceiçao was a very nifty player in his day, speeding down the wing for the Dragons as well as Lazio, Parma and Inter Milan.

You may remember him scoring a hat-trick for Portugal against Germany at Euro 2000.

The 44-year-old returned to the Estadio do Dragao in 2017 and immediately led them to the tile, ending a five-year wait.

On this fixture he said: "Rangers are a team who play like they do traditionally in Scotland, with good fight and aggression and a positive attitude.

"They are strong in these moments when you fight for the second balls, but when you talk of duelling and second balls people sometimes misunderstand that they are not playing football.

"It depends on the team's strategy, principles and dynamics because playing in a more direct way can be positive if it is properly considered.

"Rangers' strategy is designed for this. We observed some matches where they have more space and they occupy the space properly in a very interesting way. If we are passive in defence we will have a lot of problems. But we are prepared for these scenarios."

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"We have to find a performance that's close to our best to take something, we are well aware of that," said Rangers manager Steven Gerrard yesterday.

"I don't think this is an arena or fixture where you can come and perform below par. If we have got any ambition to take anything away from this, whether it's a win or a point, we have to max out, that's in and out of possession.

"But I have belief in the players that we can find that because coming to a place like this, an arena that has the wow factor, a pitch that's perfect, against an opposition that all the players will have huge respect for, more often than not that's when you can find your performance."

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Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has a winning record against Porto. The former Liverpool captain was on target in a 4-1 win at Anfield in the 2007-08 Champions League group stage and featured in a 2-0 aggregate success against the same opponents in the 2000-01 Uefa Cup quarter-finals.

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Porto are Champions League group regulars - they reached the last eight last year season - so what are they doing here?

The Dragons suffered a shock defeat by Krasnodar in the third qualifying round, winning the first leg in Russia 1-0 but losing the home return 3-2 after being three goals down at half-time.

It’s only the second time they have been in the Europa League group phase since the tournament was given a makeover 10 years ago. The first time was in 2010-11 and they only went on to lift the trophy...

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Celtic lead the way in Group E after a draw in Rennes and a revenge victory over Cluj, who bundled them out of Champions League qualifying. However, Lazio and the Romanians are just a point behind.

How seriously are Lazio taking this tournament? We’ll see when the team lines are announced. Even if some stars are rested before a weekend visit to Fiorentina, the Rome club have a squad packed with international talent and some seriously dangerous forwards.

All four teams in Group G are locked on three points, with Rangers and Porto opening with home victories then slipping up on the road. The Ibrox men will be kicking themselves after shipping a late goal in a 2-1 loss to Young Boys but they can’t afford to dwell on that as they go into a very tough double-header with the big-spending Portuguese.

Young Boys host Feyenoord this evening.

Rangers fans have been enjoying the sights of Porto, supping a few beers by the banks of the Douro River or maybe even a drop of the local port.

Prior to travelling, the Ibrox club asked supporters not to sing songs or behave in a way that "Uefa could deem unacceptable".

Twice this season, the club have had to close a section of Ibrox for European games after sectarian chanting and the club opted not to take tickets for the game with Young Boys in Switzerland.

The same statement urged fans to "portray Rangers in the best possible light".

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So, that's four changes from Sunday's 1-1 draw at Hearts, with Rangers boss Steven Gerrard going for the searing pace of Ryan Kent and Brandon Barker, despite both wingers missing a lot of game time this season due to injury niggles.

Midfielder Ryan Jack is fit again and Filip Helander comes into central defence.

Nikola Katic, Joe Aribo, Scott Arfield and Sheyi Ojo are the men dropping out.

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Rangers XI: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldon, Helander, Barisic, Jack, Kamara, Davis, Barker, Kent, Morelos.

Roll out the red carpet. We have a double helping of glitz and glamour in the Europa League, with Rangers and Celtic up against a couple of heavy hitters.

Steven Gerrard’s side start us off in Portugal against Porto, twice champions of Europe and twice winners of this tournament, and then 1990s Serie A poster boys Lazio roll into Celtic Park.

Absolutely stonking ties… Bring. It. On.

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