McCallum spoke exclusively to RangersTV ahead of their first fixture of the tournament and underlined the team's excitement to be participating again this year. He said: “We’re very excited. This is a competition that we have been looking forward to for some time.
“Last year we were disappointed that we never got the opportunity to be part of it due to Covid-19 restrictions, but this year is very exciting.
“We know it is going to be a difficult game, we’ve looked into it as much as we possibly can in what they [Hammarby] might look like to make sure that we are ready to go and put on a strong performance.”
The Head Coach continued by adding the benefit this competition will be for the players’ development as they compete against different opposition. He continued: “We look at the whole programme for this year and this is another exciting one but a different type of game.
“Playing in the Lowland League is a challenge for the players, this competition I think will be a little bit more tactical. We will want to play our game and style, but they will also want to impose that so, it may be the case of who is going to be the bravest.”
McCallum followed up by saying that the team want to continue to put on an exciting performance for the fans attending their first UEFA Youth League game. He added: “I’ve been told that most of our Academy boys and girls will be there tomorrow night to watch the B Team, which is important as hopefully, they’ll get to be part of this in a few years time when it is their stage.
“It’s exciting when you see the fans at our games, but we want to make sure that we keep performing so that the support that watch us are excited. We also want to show that we can cope with different levels of opposition and perform the way we want to perform.”
Rangers take on Swedish Champions Hammarby on Tuesday as their UEFA Youth League campaign gets underway for season 2021/22.
With broadcasting rules preventing the match being shown live on RangersTV, the only way to see the game is in-person.
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