McLeish eyeing Euro boost
Rangers manager Alex McLeish insists the Ibrox side can achieve a “favourable result” in their crunch Champions League match against Porto.
The Light Blues flew out to Portugal with McLeish’s job hanging by a thread following yet another defeat in the Bank of Scotland Premier League to Celtic at the weekend which left the Govan men trailing the Hoops by 15 points.
Despite their current domestic woes, victory over Porto would put Rangers in with a great chance of qualifying through the groups stages of the tournament for the first time.
Speaking to Rangers World, McLeish said: “Sounds easy doesn’t it? But we still have an opportunity, there’s no doubt about that even though as we all know, we are definitely depleted as a squad.
“Porto have to win the game but if we’re organised and play with discipline and show physical and mental ability then there’s no reason why we can’t get a favourable result.
“The players certainly have the physical capabilities to last a very hard game against a Porto side who have plenty of movement and plenty of confidence after a good result at the weekend.
“So we know it’s a daunting task but it’s not impossible.
“We have players with European experience which should help us but we also need players who won’t be afraid to take the ball.
“We need to pass it well. Porto are a pressing team who have a good work ethic so we can’t afford mistakes like the couple of slack passes in the first 15 or 20 minutes of the Celtic game which had us on the back foot.
“It would be fantastic to go into the last game against Inter Milan with them having already won the group.
“That’s what has made me persevere, I know that we’re facing difficulties at the moment and certainly the last couple of results haven’t helped but it’s in my blood to fight and the players have got to fight as well with a bit of dignity.”
McLeish, however, was not taking too much succour from Artmedia Bratislava’s amazing 3-2 victory in Porto earlier in the section.
He said: “Artmedia had a phenomenal result there but don’t forget that they haven’t been beset by the problems that we’ve had.
“They’ve had pretty much the same team the whole season which is fantastic for understanding and momentum whereas we’ve had games where we’ve had to toss a coin in certain positions.
“I don’t want to be making too many excuses but that hasn’t helped, there is no doubt about it.”
The beleaguered Ibrox side are without six first-team stars – Thomas Buffel, Nacho Novo, Federico Nieto, Julien Rodriguez, Olivier Bernard and Dado Prso who sustained a hamstring injury against Celtic at the weekend.
Provisional squad: Waterreus, Ricksen, Andrews, Kyrgiakos, Hutton, Lovenkrands, Hemdani, Ferguson, Murray, Namouchi, Jeffers, Thompson, Klos, Alex Rae, Pierre-Fanfan, Burke, McCormack.
