Rangers face ‘bad’ wing dilemma against Benfica
Given that his Rangers team is missing four wingers, Philippe Clement acknowledges he has a selection conundrum when they play Benfica in the Europa League.
Additionally, the manager worries that Ross McCausland might be added to the list of players missing Thursday’s first-leg match of the round of 16.
“I have five wingers and maybe five of them will be out – that is a bad situation,” Clement explained.
“It’s a challenge and, as a coach, you need to see if you stick with the same system or do you change?”
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Scotland’s top team, Rangers, suffered a defeat at home against Motherwell on Saturday, but Benfica suffered an even worse fate as they lost to Sporting Lisbon at home and were destroyed 5-0 at Porto.
Roger Schmidt’s team also placed third in their Champions League group behind Real Sociedad and Inter Milan before defeating Toulouse in the play-off to advance to the round of 16. Despite this, Clement anticipates “a reaction” from “a really good Benfica team”.
“We are up against a very talented team,” the Belgian stated. It’s quite the task. We are excited about this.
“We have twice the budget of the team we are playing, but we have high goals.” Overachievement and a little bit of luck are what we need. We need to work really quickly.”
With the pitch in Lisbon being comparable to Ibrox, Clement believes his team’s style of play will work there. He is aiming for a performance akin to Rangers’ victory over Real Betis on the road, which sealed first place in their qualification group.
He declared, “We come to win.” “I don’t ever play for a draw.
“I have never parked the bus and just defended; I don’t think that’s appropriate. Whether we were playing in Leipzig with Club Brugge or Madrid or Paris versus PSG with weaker clubs, our goal was always to win through attack.”
Though he believes that playing Rangers and giving a “complete performance” is the best way to make atonement, Counterpart Schmidt has come under fire from supporters for not extending a public apology for Sunday’s crushing.
“We want to show a good reaction after Sunday,” the German stated, clearly happy at the opportunity to reply so swiftly.
“After the match, we were all a little bit shocked about the result and of course we were also not happy with the performance.”
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Juan Bernat, a former left-back for Bayern Munich, Paris St. Germain, and Spain who hasn’t played since October, was the only player missing from Benfica’s Wednesday training.
McCausland, meanwhile, “did individual work” after having to leave the game against Motherwell early due to a leg injury, according to Clement. He will be evaluated the morning before the match.
Along with Oscar Cortes, who is not included in the European team, fellow wingers Scott Wright, Rabbi Matondo, and Abdallah Sima are undoubtedly absent due to injuries.
Along with Danilo, the striker, the central midfielders Todd Cantwel and Kieran Dowell are also unavailable.
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