Rangers expected XI versus Benfica: 21-year-old thrown out of place.
Rangers are in Lisbon for one of the biggest games of their season to date as Europa League last 16 action opens against Benfica.
The first leg at the Estadio da Luz will be a difficult test for Philippe Clement’s side against a squad that have lost just two of their past 24 games in all competitions.
However, those two defeats occurred in their previous two matches against Sporting CP and Porto. So it’s either going to be a good time to play the Portuguese giants or a horrible time – because their fans will be yearning for a convincing reaction.
As for Rangers and their team news, Clement has an injury-ravaged squad to choose his starting XI from today. Just as the team were easing away from their injury troubles, the issues had reared its ugly head again.
Seven first-team players from the Europa League knockout round squad could be absent for the Benfica clash. Abdallah Sima, Rabbi Matondo, Todd Cantwell, Kieran Dowell and Danilo are definitely out.
While Ross McCausland is a doubt and Scott Wright is expected to be hurt also going by Clement’s news conference on Wednesdsay.
Clement is in the midst of a winger issue and it seems his only solution to the situation is to deploy Dujon Sterling and Fabio Silva out wide in Lisbon.
Fabio Silva to occupy left wing
Clement just has no other choice if Ross McCausland is declared unavailable. The kid is definitely striving to recover quickly enough from the awful tackle he was on the end of against Motherwell on Saturday.
The boss stated McCausland had trained on his own but remains a doubt for tonight. Fabio Silva has been deployed off the left recently but it’s not ideal, of course.
There shouldn’t be too many other modifications there. Ridvan Yilmaz will be anticipated to make his first start in the Europa League this season and the same goes for Mohamed Diomande.
Tom Lawrence should occupy the offensive midfield position behind Cyriel Dessers, who has one goal and one assist in the Europa League this season thus far [FotMob].
Here is our Rangers predicted XI for the last 16 first leg game against Benfica as the Ibrox side try to continue their stunning record in the competition this evening.
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