The Rangers Football Club

Tickets for the meetings between Glasgow giants Rangers and Celtic are never on general sale and it is typically only season ticket holders from both clubs that attend these fixtures, apart from some sponsor and hospitality seats. …

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My Football Travels: Ibrox Stadium (Rangers v Celtic)

Falkirk Stadium – 05/12/09 – 1230 BST
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Match Odds: Falkirk 8.00 Draw 4.20 Rangers 1.44

Kjartan Finnbogason returns to the Falkirk bench against Rangers at home on Saturday as he has recovered from a knee injury.

Pedro Pele will make his first start but prospective signing Toufik Zerara still awaits international clearance.

Maurice Edu and Kirk Broadfoot are edging closer to a return for Rangers but this game comes too soon.

Midfielder Pedro Mendes is still out of action with a knee injury and Jerome Rothen remains sidelined with illness.

Falkirk manager Eddie May:
“Rangers have been up against it on numerous occasions in the last few years.

“Walter Smith’s got the best out of them and that’s why he’s the best manager in Scotland.

“We’ll need to be at our best. But if we get a result it’s because Falkirk are good enough and not because Rangers are poor.

“We can beat them if we have belief, move the ball quickly and work hard for each other.”

Rangers manager Walter Smith:
“This is a big game for us as it kicks off a month where we have a lot of extremely tough matches.

“Falkirk had a massive turnover of staff in the summer but now they seem to be settling down.

“The 3-3 draw with Celtic would indicate that and we expect nothing other than a tough match.

“I’m hoping we get a really good reaction after last week’s defeat in Aberdeen.”

Falkirk (from): Olejnik, Allison, Mitchell, Barr, McLean, Arfield, Lima, Flynn, Pele, Finnigan, Moutinho, Marceta, Murdoch, Bullen, Twaddle, MacDonald, Bloom, Wagenaar.

Rangers (from): McGregor, Whittaker, Bougherra, Papac, Weir, Wilson, Davis, McCulloch, Novo, Naismith, Lafferty, Miller, Fleck, Boyd, Smith, Thomson, Little, Alexander.

Pittodrie – 28/11/09 – 1500 BST
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Match Odds: Aberdeen 4.33 Draw 3.60 Rangers 1.80

Aberdeen will have forward Chris Maguire back from suspension but Gary McDonald is banned following his red card against Motherwell.

Sone Aluko (stomach) and Fraser Fyvie (ankle) remain on the sidelines, while Zander Diamond (ankle) will return to training next week.

Rangers winger Jerome Rothen remains in France being treated for swine flu.

Steven Naismith is fit after missing the midweek defeat to Stuttgart with hamstring and calf injuries.

Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee:
“Whenever you play the Old Firm it’s always difficult for the rest of us.

“I think we’re getting them at a good time in the sense of ourselves.

“I think we’re in as good shape, in terms of mentally in particular, going into this game as we have been all season.

“We have a team selected that we think can do the business against Rangers. But that’s because of us, not them.”

Rangers midfielder Kevin Thomson:
“The rivalry between the two teams and both sets of supporters is quite fierce,” the 25-year-old said.

“They are always good games to be involved in, always high-tempo, a wee bit like a derby to be honest.

“We will be under no illusions but we certainly feel we have enough quality to go up there and get three points.”

Aberdeen (from): Langfield, Ross, Ifil, Considine, Mulgrew, Foster, Kerr, Miller, Young, Duff, Wright, Paton, Crawford, Pawlett, Maguire, Grassi, Mackie, Bain.

Rangers (from): McGregor, Whittaker, Papac, Weir, Wilson, Davis, Thomson, McCulloch, Naismith, Novo, Miller, Fleck, Boyd, Lafferty, Bougherra, Smith, Little, Ness, Alexander.

Ibrox – 24/11/09 – 1945 BST
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Match Odds: Rangers 2.75 Draw 3.40 Stuttgart 2.50

Neither team can countenance anything less than victory at Ibrox on Tuesday as Group G stragglers VfB Stuttgart and Rangers FC attempt to breathe life into their troubled campaigns. The German side boast a one-point advantage over their hosts and hope to eradicate the two-point gap to second-placed FC Unirea Urziceni, with coach Markus Babbel stressing that “this is a different competition” to the Bundesliga, where his team lie in the relegation zone. His opposite number Walter Smith expects a tough match from a side whose form he says “it’s not for us to judge”, but he hopes to “at least to be involved in European football post-Christmas”.

Walter Smith, Rangers coach
It’s been a strange season for us in the Champions League. We have taken a couple of points in our away games and produced two good performances. However, we’ve not had any points from our home games and, in fact, suffered two heavy defeats. But the most important thing is that we’re in a situation where we can still qualify for the last 16, or at least to be involved in European football post-Christmas. That’s our aim. We know Stuttgart will give us a tough game, and it’s not for us to judge their form. They have some high quality players. It can often happen that clubs aren’t doing so well domestically, but thrive in the Champions League. It can become a focal point for them. But, hopefully, we’ll also have something to be fighting for in the last game in Seville.

Markus Babbel, Stuttgart coach
The team did a fantastic job to finish third in the Bundesliga last season. Now we want to make the most of that by progressing to the last 16. Of course, we are having some problems in our domestic league, but this is a different competition. The quality is quite high in the German league. We’ve been creating a lot of chances, we have been playing well, but we haven’t been scoring enough goals. Hopefully, we can rectify that against Rangers. I’m confident because we know Rangers have to do something. I feel we are ready and we’re going to fight for three points. Overall the quality of the teams in the Champions League is higher than six or seven years ago. Even the so-called smaller teams have been pretty impressive. In our group, three clubs are still fighting for second place.

Weekend results
21/11/09 Rangers 3-0 Kilmarnock FC
(Boyd 7, Miller 24, Whittaker 35)

• This win, coupled with Celtic FC’s 2-1 loss at Dundee United FC the following day, left Rangers one point ahead with a game in hand.

• Kris Boyd has now scored 14 goals in as many games against his former club.

21/11/09 Stuttgart 1-1 Hertha BSC Berlin
(Kuzmanović 82; Ramos 49)

• Zdravko Kuzmanović was sent off four minutes after scoring his second goal in three games, but the equaliser at least kept Stuttgart six points clear of basement side Hertha even as they dropped into the bottom three.

• Stuttgart are now ten games without a win following a third straight league draw.

Team news
Rangers
Out: Pedro Mendes (thigh), Maurice Edu (knee), Kirk Broadfoot (foot)
Doubtful: Steven Naismith (calf/hamstring), Kris Boyd (calf), DaMarcus Beasley (hamstring), Jérôme Rothen (sinus)
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: Steven Naismith

• Naismith (who is highly doubtful) and Boyd were both injured against Kilmarnock.

• Madjid Bougherra may be recalled having missed the Kilmarnock game after reporting back late from international duty.

Stuttgart
Out: Martin Lanig (cruciate ligament), Sami Khedira (foot), Stefano Celozzi
Doubtful: Ricardo Osorio (thigh), Serdar Tasci (foot), Ludovic Magnin (thigh)
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: none

Background
• In the 1-1 draw between the sides on Matchday 1, hosts Stuttgart took the lead through Pavel Pogrebnyak before Bougherra levelled for Rangers with 13 minutes remaining.

• Rangers have a formidable home record against German visitors, losing only two of the 21 competitive fixtures, with six drawn.

• Stuttgart’s two 1-1 draws in their previous away games in the group have improved their recent travelling record in official European fixtures. They lost all three games on foreign soil in the 2007/08 group stage and in last season’s UEFA Cup lost two and drew one of their three away games. They have not won any of their last nine fixtures on an opponent’s ground in the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup proper.

Did you know?
The teams met in the same UEFA Champions League group two years ago and again in 2003/04. On both occasions Rangers won their home games 2-1. In the 2003/04 group stage, Rangers won 2-1 at Ibrox and Stuttgart 1-0 in Germany.

Ibrox – 21/11/09 – 1500 BST
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Match Odds: Rangers 1.25 Draw 5.50 Kilmarnock 11.00

Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra is unlikely to feature following his World Cup play-off exertions with Algeria.

Midfielder DaMarcus Beasley is struggling with a hamstring strain, Steven Whittaker returns from injury but Pedro Mendes remains sidelined.

Mark Burchill and Allan Russell are close to returning for Kilmarnock after recovering from an Achilles operation and a broken hand, respectively.

Defender Simon Ford, back in training after a knee injury, is still out.

Rangers manager Walter Smith:
“We have just been starting to show a level of form and consistency in performances that we hadn’t shown in the earlier part of the season.

“Our previous game at Kilmarnock was a poor one from our own point of view and we were very fortunate to come away with a draw that day.

“But we have been doing better recently and have picked up our performances. I hope that’s something the international break hasn’t interfered with and that we can carry on the way we have been doing.

“We will have to show we can do far better than we did in the game at Rugby Park.”

Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies on the likely duel between striker Kevin Kyle and Rangers youngster Danny Wilson:
“It will be an education for anyone who plays against Kyle.

“He is a big, physical guy and I think Rangers respect him.

“But what we have tried not to do is just lump the ball up to him because he is very good at taking the ball into feet and laying it off.

“We want to get it wide and produce a quality ball because, if you put it in the box, he is a dangerous man.

“He is such a physical presence, he won’t mess about but we have to provide the service.”

Rangers: (from) McGregor, Whittaker, Papac, Weir, Wilson, Davis, McCulloch, Novo, Miller, Naismith, Fleck, Boyd, Ness, Rothen, Thomson, Lafferty, Smith, Alexander.

Kilmarnock: (from) Brown, Hay, Fowler, Wright, Old, Hamill, Skelton, Taouil, Invincibile, Bryson, Sammon, Fernandez, Kyle, Brown, Robinson, Burchill, Flannigan, Owens, Kelly, Russell, Bell.

Ibrox – 07/11/09 – 1500 BST
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Match Odds: Rangers 1.20 Draw 6.00 St Mirren 15.00

Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra is still short of fitness and misses Saturday’s visit by St Mirren.

Kyle Lafferty and Stevie Smith have suffered food poisoning and join Pedro Mendes, Maurice Edu and Kirk Broadfoot on the sidelines.

St Mirren midfielder Steven Thomson returns from illness, but defender Lee Mair is suspended.

Allan Johnston, Steven Robb, Craig Dargo, Chris Smith, Tom Brighton and Mo Camara are all missing through injury.

Rangers (from): McGregor, Whittaker, Papac, Weir, Davis, McCulloch, Fleck, Naismith, Lafferty, Miller, Novo, Boyd, Beasley, Loy, Wilson, Rothen, Alexander, McMillan.

St Mirren (from): Gallacher, Ross, Barron, Potter, Innes, McGinn, Thomson, Murray, Dorman, Higdon, Mehmet, Brady, O’Donnell, McLean, Ramsay, Love, Howard.

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Match Odds: Unirea Urziceni 2.00 Draw 3.25 Rangers 4.00

Rangers FC have made three visits to Romania for competitive games and are yet to score a goal.

Consecutive 4-1 home defeats have left the Scottish champions with it all to do to stay in Group G contention, while the Romanian titleholders have climbed up to second position thanks to their first win in UEFA club competition on Matchday 3 and will be aiming to consolidate that at the Steaua Stadium.

• Unirea had drawn two and lost two of their first four European matches prior to their visit to Glasgow and made the worst possible start when Ricardo Vilana’s own goal gave Rangers a second-minute lead. Marius Bilasco equalised, however, and after Daniel Tudor had saved Steven Davis’s penalty the second period began with both Rangers substitute Kyle Lafferty and team-mate Lee McCulloch scoring for Unirea. Pablo Brandán added a fourth to leave Walter Smith’s team bottom of the standings with one point from three outings.

Match background
• Before the Ibrox meeting, Rangers had played six competitive fixtures with Romanian opponents, all against FC Steaua Bucureşti. There is much scope for improvement in their away record because they failed to score in any of the three games.

• Rangers lost twice to Steaua, 2-0 in the 1987/88 European Champion Clubs’ Cup quarter-finals – with Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant, now on their coaching staff, both playing – and 1-0 in the 1995/96 UEFA Champions League group stage. Their first visit to the Romanian capital, in the 1969/70 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup first round, ended 0-0.

• Unirea had never faced a Scottish team in a UEFA club fixture prior to Matchday 3.

• The Romanian club are in only their second season in UEFA competition and are still to win at home, losing 2-0 against Hamburger SV in last season’s UEFA Cup first round and drawing 1-1 with VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 2.

• Rangers’ last away win in the UEFA Champions League group stage came with a 3-0 triumph at Olympique Lyonnais on 2 October 2007. They have since lost two away games and drawn the other, at Stuttgart on Matchday 1, in the competition proper.

Team ties
• Unirea coach Dan Petrescu played for Romania against Scotland in the Steaua Stadium in October 1991, a UEFA European Championship qualifier that ended 1-0 to the home team. He also played in Glasgow 13 months previously with Scotland winning 2-1, current Rangers assistant manager McCoist scoring the winner.

• Petrescu scored for Chelsea FC in a 3-1 victory against Everton FC at Stamford Bridge in May 1999, during Rangers manager Smith’s first season in charge of the Merseyside club.

• Smith got a measure of revenge in 2000/01 as Everton beat a Bradford City AFC side featuring Petrescu 1-0 at Valley Parade in November 2000.

• For the past two summers Unirea have had a pre-season tour of Scotland. This year they played Celtic FC behind closed doors, drawing 1-1, and defeated Greenock Morton FC 3-1. Elsewhere on that tour Unirea lost 2-1 to English side Plymouth Argyle FC at Balgray Playing Fields in Glasgow and beat Ayr United FC 2-1.

• In 2008 Unirea drew 2-2 with Celtic and 1-1 with Livingston FC, as well as beating Saint Johnstone FC 4-0 and Motherwell FC 2-1.

Sunday’s match at Tannadice between Dundee United and Rangers in the Scottish Premier League was abandoned at half-time because of heavy rain.

Rangers had been leading through Steven Davis’s 29th-minute strike.

But referee Mike Tumilty informed Rangers boss Walter Smith and United’s Craig Levein about his concerns over surface water and stopped the game.

“Towards half-time, it became nearly impossible and I did not want the game to become farcical,” said Tumelty.

No date has yet been agreed for the re-arranged match.

The abandonment leaves Rangers third in the Scottish Premier League, four points adrift of leaders Celtic and one behind Hibernian, while United missed out on the chance of going above fourth-placed Motherwell.

But both managers agreed that the decision to stop the match was correct after Tumilty raised concerns over safety during the half-time interval.

“There was a lot of water lying on the pitch and, as the first half went on, the water started to lie, particularly at the goalmouth,” said Tumilty.

“The safety of the players could have become a real risk.

“I saw Allan McGregor drop the ball and you could have a whole melee of players in there with boots flying.

“Players were struggling to keep on their feet, so I was concerned for their safety.

“I felt, if we could get through to half-time and evaluate the situation, but the rain was getting heavier and, from my point of view, with that amount of water on the pitch and the incidents towards the end of the first-half, I just didn’t think we could get back on.

We went out and checked it during the half-time interval and it really wasn’t any better.”

Tumilty informed the managers at half-time, and while both were disappointed, they accepted the decision.

United manager Levein said: “The rain wasn’t going off. If it had stopped, there was maybe a chance that we could have continued.

“We’re gutted, because it’s the best we’ve played for so long.

“The lads were devastated when I told them it was off, as they felt they had a chance of getting back into the game.

“I’ve got a degree of sympathy for Mike. At the start of the game, it was playable, but the rain has been so incessant throughout the game that he had no choice.”

Smith was disappointed to be denied a possible victory but agreed that the referee had little choice.

“Obviously we’re disappointed the game got called off, but as far as we’re concerned, the referee’s decision is one I think is correct and was a difficult one for him to make,” said the Rangers manager.

“There was water starting to lie at the bottom end of the pitch and he felt it could be a danger to the players and I don’t think anybody can argue with him there.

“Obviously, we were disappointed – so was the referee – I felt he had an excellent game today in difficult circumstances.

“We’re obviously delighted we got through it without any injuries, but the disappointment from my own point of view is that we went one up and we find ourselves in a situation where the game gets abandoned.”

Allan McGregor, David Weir, Davis, Kris Boyd, Steven Naismith and Kenny Miller had all been drafted back into the Rangers side after the midweek Co-operative Insurance Cup win over Dundee.

United manager Levein brought in Nicky Weaver, Darren Dods, Craig Conway, Jennison Myrie-Williams, Damian Casalinuovo and Paul Dixon after their defeat by St Johnstone, but Andy Webster was dropped as a result of the terms of his loan deal from the Ibrox club.

Dixon and Mihael Kovacevic both had efforts that struck the Rangers crossbar during an exciting first half.

However, Davis broke the stalemate on the half hour when Sasa Papac flighted in a high ball and the Irishman beat the offside trap to coolly slot past Weaver.