EUROPA LEAGUE ROUND OF 32 Rangers v Sporting Lisbon:WALTER SMITH has said Rangers will not take the Europa League lightly when Sporting Lisbon visit Ibrox tonight, even though many would regard Sunday's Old Firm game at Celtic Park as of greater importance.
“When you are at a club where there is a demand to be successful, it’s very difficult to pick and choose,” the Rangers manager said.
“You’ve got to go and try to win your games. There is no way we will approach this by fielding a team that we think might not win this game just because we go to Celtic Park on Sunday. What if we ended up losing both games?
“If you are a manager of Rangers or Celtic or Manchester United and people ask you what you’ve got to do, it’s simple: you’ve got to win. If you set out trying to pick and choose your games then you are on very dangerous ground, in my eyes.”
Smith says he can count on only 16 senior professionals, eight fewer than when he guided Rangers to a Uefa Cup final amid fixture chaos in 2008.
The manager can see similarities between his side’s situation then and now. Sporting, after all, were defeated on that Rangers run to the Uefa final in Manchester three years ago.
“When we were in Panathinaikos (in 2008) and were down 1-0, (the assistant manager) Ally McCoist said to me: ‘What will we do?’ I said: ‘Get beat’. He said to me: ‘We can’t’, and I said: ‘I know’. So we made a change, got a goal and went through. The point I’m making is, you are aware that it will affect your domestic situation. But how can you want to lose?”
Guardian Service
Tonight, kick-off – 8.05pm Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow Live Setanta Ireland ESPN
Probable Teams
RANGERS(4-5-1): McGregor; Whittaker, Bougherra, Weir, Papac; Davis, Edu, Ness, Bartley, Weiss; Diouf.
SPORTING LISBON(4-3-3): Patricio; Pereira, Carrico, Polga, Evaldo; Santos, Mendes, Maniche; Vukcevic, Postiga, Cristiano.
Referee: M Grafe(Ger).
