Rangers left-back Borna Barisic suffered an injury in the first half of Saturday’s win over HibernianEuropa League, Group C: Sparta Prague v Rangers
Venue: Stadion Letna, Prague Date: Thursday, 26 October Kick-off: 17:45 BST
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Manager Philippe Clement has vowed to find a solution to Rangers’ left-back issue for Thursday’s Europa League group encounter with Sparta Prague.
Borna Barisic and Dujon Sterling are ruled out injured, while Ridvan Yilmaz cannot feature as he is not named in the Ibrox club’s European squad.
Clement did not reveal his thinking, but left-footed centre-back Ben Davies could provide a makeshift option.
“Someone needs to step in and do a job for the team,” the Rangers boss said.
“I’m not a coach who likes to make circles when there’s a problem. I look for solutions. I’m confident in the squad.
“We hope to get [Barisic] back towards the weekend or at least next week. It’s not a really bad [injury] but the timing is really bad because [Yilmaz] isn’t in the European squad, a decision that was made before my time.”
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Clement’s reign as Rangers manager got off to the perfect start on Saturday as his new side thrashed Hibernian 4-0 in Govan.
But the Belgian wants his team - who have one win and one defeat in their opening two group games - to “show a better level” when they face Sparta.
The Czech champions currently sit top of their domestic league unbeaten with 10 victories from 12 matches.
“[Sparta] are really good on the ball,” Clement adds. “They have good quality players, good structure and a good coach as well. On these evenings you need to be very focussed, concentrated and take your moment.
“We play to win. That’s what we’re going to try to do. We know if we can do this here we’ll take a really important step in this group.”
What they said
Sparta Prague head coach Brian Priske: “It’s important to take into consideration that this is a new coach. They have only played one game together at the weekend, winning 4-0.
“We still are a little bit in the dark if they’ll make further changes, they made a few adjustments in the style of play since we first started to watch them.
“We have to wait and see the formation, how they will attack the game, otherwise it’s a team full of individual quality.”
Rangers midfielder Todd Cantwell: “We were going through a tough period, so to win at home convincingly was good for the players and has provided a good confidence boost.
“Since the boss has come in, he’s implemented the way he wants to play. It won’t happen overnight, but we’re all in.”
Match stats
- Rangers have won six of their latest eight games and sit second in the Scottish Premiership.
- Sparta Prague have won six home games in a row since losing on penalties to FC Copenhagen in Champions League qualifying.
- The home team has won all four previous major European matches between these two, with Sparta enjoying 1-0 wins at home in the European Cup in September 1991 and Europa League in September 2021.
- Rangers have lost four of their five previous trips to the Czech Republic in major European competition, drawing once and scoring just one goal in the five games.
- Including qualifiers, Sparta have won two, drawn two and lost two of their six games in Europe this season. Their first match was a goalless draw, with the subsequent five producing a total of 23 goals (F12 A11, 4.6 per game).
- Rangers have won just one of their last 12 away games in major European competition, losing eight of them, including seven in a row since beating Borussia Dortmund 4-2 in February 2022.
- Both of Rangers’ Europa League goals this season have been scored by Abdallah Sima. Including a Champions League qualifier against PSV Eindhoven, he has scored in his last three European games.
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