Belgian shock-troops Union Saint Galloise insist they don’t fear the might of the Rangers travelling army - after opening the doors to thousands more of them for next month’s crunch Champions League eliminator.
Record Sport revealed that the first leg clash between the sides will not go ahead at Union ’s historic home ground on the outskirts of Brussels. Talks have begun to switch the likely August 2 showdown away from the 9,000 capacity Stade Jospeh Marien to a bigger venue - with Leuven's The King Power At Den Dreef Stadium set to win out.
And Union’s director of sports Chris O’Loughlin confirmed: “We’re speaking to Rangers today and there are logistics to be discussed in terms of where the game will actually be played. It won’t be able to go ahead at our stadium, no. It would have been very special but unfortunately there are modern day realities which will prevent that.”
But Irishman O’Loughlin insists his club’s players will not be fazed by the size of the task of facing Rangers after stunning big clubs all across Belgium throughout the last domestic season - Union’s first in the top flight for 48 years. He said: “In the history books you have Anderlecht, then Club Brugge and then us with the third most titles.
“But, in terms of modern day football yes, we are a smaller club. We still have the romantic old stadium with a special group of supporters. But that means, every time we’ve gone away to the likes of a Standard Liege, Anderlecht or Brugge, we are going into environments that are a little bit more like theatres and the intensity in the stands is a little bit more than what we would have faced in the past.
“The gap between the second division and the first division in Belgium, in terms of infrastructure, can be pretty big. So, over the last year or so, we have got used to going into those environments and we’ve performed pretty well.
“We won’t take anything for granted - like I said, I’m personally well aware of what Ibrox can be like - but at the same time, that’s what we all play for in football. That’s what we want to experience. We won’t be arrogant by any means.
"We know it will be a challenge. But I’m pretty sure we’ll be capable of giving a good account of ourselves over there.”
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