Rangers are the better teaM... noW they neeD to shoW It

DESPITE being two goals down ahead of tomorrow’s return leg against Union Saint-Gilloise, I see no reason why Rangers can’t progress to the play-off round of the Champions League. As well as the Belgians played last week, their 3-0 loss to Mechelen at the weekend should provide a more accurate reflection of their true standing. They are certainly no European heavyweights. Last season, Rangers showed they were capable of beating far bigger names at Ibrox as they made it to the Europa League final. With the stadium packed to the rafters, they will back themselves to turn the tie on its head. No player has scored more goals in Europe for Rangers than Alfredo Morelos. After so long out, it’s going to take him a few matches to get fully up to speed but his mere presence tomorrow is a huge boost. It’s not just his goal record. His physicality poses different problems to their defenders. He’s a handful. He’ll wind them up and push them about. They won’t be looking forward to facing him. It’s all about how Rangers start. The atmosphere will be electric and they have to feed off that and keep the fans with them. The Belgians won’t have experienced anything like it. Far better teams than them have been intimidated by the atmosphere that the big clubs in Glasgow can generate on nights like these. If Rangers score in the first 30 minutes, I think the momentum will turn and they’ll get through with something to spare. It’s a matter of unsettling Union from the very first minute. You want to get them facing their own goal and remain under pressure. If they concede early, I could see them crumbling. But at the same time you don’t need to be diving into silly challenges and being too aggressive. The last thing Giovanni van Bronckhorst needs is his side going down to ten men and that’s going to make a tough task significantly harder. You can’t win it within ten minutes but you can lose it. The energy in the ground has to inspire you. You can’t get carried away. Celtic faced exactly the same scenario when we faced Shakhter Karagandy in 2013 and succeeded in coming back from two goals down. We did that by staying ice cool. You know you might need to ride your luck at times but you have to believe that you are the better team than the opposition and that if you play to your capability you will progress.