Match Preview: Fenerbahce vs Rangers | OneFootball

Fixture: Fenerbahce vs Rangers Competition: Europa League Kick-off: 17:45 UK time

Rangers’ interim manager Barry Ferguson will have to bring all of his footballing acumen to the plate when he takes charge of the team inside the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium against Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce on Thursday evening.

The atmosphere inside the stadium can often be electric, made even more special by the waving of yellow scarves. Rangers’ players though are no strangers to hostility, having their own Ibrox atmosphere to boast of. It will be a tricky one though, given Turkish team’s ability to wring out surprises in European competitions.

Fenerbahce are currently on an 18-game unbeaten run and have just beaten Belgian giants Anderlecht 5-2 on aggregate to reach the round of 16. They will go into the match with confidence and look for a lead that might be enough to see them through.

Rangers, on the other hand, did not have to seek the playoff round route and got through automatically by finishing eighth at the end of the league phase. It now remains to be seen whether the team have enough characters to see them through.

Rangers’ season has already gone from bad to worse, resulting in the sacking of Philippe Clement and Ferguson taking over on an interim basis. The Europa League is now their only hope of salvaging something from a poor campaign.

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Key Men

Fenerbahce

The Turkish side have put much faith in their veteran skipper Edin Dzeko, who has proven his presence in front of the goal. In the ten Europa League matches he has played so far this season, he has found the back of the net three times and has also helped set up three more goals for his team-mates.

Mourinho has yet another veteran Dusan Tadic in his ranks, who could bring all his experience to the plate to beat Rangers.

Having a manager of Mourinho’s stature to guide them could also be a determining factor. The Portuguese knows what it takes to win European tournaments and will bring all of it to the plate.

Rangers

Rangers’ chances this evening will depend largely on the performance of their defenders as the hosts will definitely look to score inside their home ground to take an advantage on to next week’s game. Skipper James Tavernier, despite having faced severe criticism for his performances this season, does have big experience on the European stage and needs to step up to be a leader.

Goalkeeper Jack Butland, who has two clean sheets in eight league phase matches could be of help in keeping the scorers out, and has something to prove given criticism sent his way of late.

It could be a really difficult night for Ferguson’s team in Turkey and the Rangers faithful could be in for a rude awakening under the lights on Thursday night. Given the team’s recent run of form, Mourinho’s men will fancy their chances of establishing a comfortable first leg lead.

For Rangers, it will be more of a match to keep themselves alive in the competition heading into the second leg at Ibrox. They could do well to keep it goalless at the end of 90 minutes.