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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Aidan Smith

Rangers facing left-back crisis for Sparta clash as European reshuffle expected

Philippe Clement will likely have to perform a defensive reshuffle as Rangers take on Sparta Prague in the Europa League this week.

The Light Blues trained for the final time ahead of travelling this morning and there was no sign of Borna Barisic or Dujon Sterling.

Croatian Barisic was forced off in Clement's first game as manager against Hibs at the weekend due to a thigh issue and Sterling also appears to be injured.

Ridvan Yilmaz would be the obvious option but he is not registered in Rangers' European squad with previous boss Michael Beale overlooking the Turkish youngster.

As a result, youngster Adam Devine could likely feature or central defender Ben Davies could also be utilised out of position.

Ahead of Thursday's clash with Sparta Prague, captain James Tavernier spoke to the press.

Looking ahead to the fixture, he explained: “The group's level and it's a restart now because we have a new gaffer and can still come top of the group. Prague is the first game of the boss taking charge in Europe and it's a game we want to do really well in.

“It's a place where we've been before, we know what it's all about. We will try to go over there and get the three points and get back on track of getting through to the next round.

“Domestic and European football are two different standards with different ways to set up and the way we want to play. Most of the weeks we are playing compact teams with ten or eleven players behind the ball and we are trying to break them down.

“In Europe the game is more open and you get more chances but they also have more of an attacking threat so it's something that we relish and we have had really good success in this tournament.

“We always want to win and it's a competition that a few of us have held really close in getting to the final and we hope to repeat the great scenes that we had in the build up to that.

“Limassol was a difficult night. The performance didn't go our way. I couldn't really put my finger on what it was down to.

“We obviously conceded two goals that were avoidable but we put ourselves in a good position against Betis at the start of the group and now we are even. It's time to put more points on the board and get through to the next round.”

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