The pressure is all on Rangers ahead of their showdown with Union Saint Gilloise, according to the Belgian side's new manager.
The two sides will face off in the Champions League third qualifying round next month as Gio van Bronckhorst and his team look to earn a major payday join Celtic in the group stage of the competition. First though they have to navigate past unlikely Belgian champions USG, who have a new man at the helm to steer their European charge.
Ambitious Karel Geraerts will take charge of his first competitive game when the two sides meet for the first leg in Belgium, although it won't be at their iconic ground after the club announced they will be unable to host Rangers there due to its limited 9,400 capacity. And Geraerts, while confident of an upset to turbo-charge his tenure, insists all the pressure is on Van Bronckhorst and his troops - labelling them "strong favourites."
He said: "It's a very big challenge for us, that's for sure. Rangers are a club with a lot of history and last season they were in the Europa League Final. They are also a team with a lot of quality It's clear that Rangers are strong favourites. We will show them all the respect in the world, but we will play our usual game and try and win.
"Like every match, I will approach it with the aim of winning. There's no point going on the pitch if you don't attempt to win the game. The pressure is off because we already have the Europa League in our pockets even if we lose to Rangers. And now we have the chance of going to the play-offs of the Champions League. It's very special for us.
"I don't know everything about Rangers, but now that we know who the opponents are, we are going to analyse them in depth. But for the moment the focus remains on the Sint-Truiden opening league match of the season."
And Union's chief executive, Philippe Bormans, admits they will have their work cut out to beat Rangers. He added: "It's been decades since we were in Europe and be drawn against a team like Rangers is no laughing matter in a sporting sense.
"They played in the Europa League Final last season. But we will give everything to get through. Whether we play in the Champions League or the Europa League, we have a very tough schedule. From now until the World Cup, Union will play 27 or 29 matches.
"When we were in the second division, we only played as many matches as that in a whole season. So we have to be stronger, which is why we are still looking at the market. We have raised our playing budget this season to 15 million Euros, which is still one of the lowest budgets in the league."
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