FIL HELANDER is back from his Euros adventure – and he is mightily impressed with the condition he has found his Rangers teammates in.
The Swedish internationalist is now getting himself up to the same level as the rest of the players having represented his country at the tournament which ended for them at Hampden on June 29.
Helander was speaking to RangersTV this week, with your club channel, official website, app and social media channels being the only place to hear from the Light Blues this pre-season.
He explained: "It has been great to see all the boys and it looks like they have been training hard! I have just come back so I haven't been training that much, but it looks like the boys have been training hard and getting up to speed.
"Now I have had my rest, which was a little shorter than some of the players, I am looking forward to getting back."
The Swedes were tipped to do well in the tournament having reached the quarter-finals at the last World Cup, and they began exceptionally well, topping a group including Spain, Slovakia and Poland with an opening draw against the Spanish and then good wins in their latter two fixtures.
That put them through to a Last-16 tie with Ukraine in Glasgow, where an Artem Dovbyk goal in injury-time at the end of extra-time denied them a quarter-final rematch with England in Rome.
Despite the hurt of that disappointing exit, Helander feels they are in good shape to go on and qualify for Qatar 2022, having secured two wins from two in their section for that so far.
"That is what we need to try and do,” he added. “We have a good team and I think we showed glimpses of it during this tournament.
"We have some good players and hopefully we can be a bit more successful.
"Of course, it's always special playing in a big tournament, and I enjoyed it as much as possible, but then unfortunately the result wasn't what we wanted.”
You can watch a short trailer before or RangersTV subscribers can watch exclusive interviews in full HERE.
RANGERSTV PRE-SEASON: RangersTV is the only place showing your team’s matches in pre-season and you can buy now HERE.
RangersTV is the only place to follow pre-season this season and we'll have exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the Rangers Training Centre every day as Steven Gerrard’s side prepare to build on the fantastic success of last season.
On RangersTV For Subscribers This Week
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE NOW TO RANGERSTV
A subscription to RangersTV starts from just £6 per month, and provides not only exclusive access to the club’s teams, but also original feature videos and documentaries, our incredibly popular Inside Ibrox and Away Days shows and our extensive archive of match action from through the years.
MyGers members will also be awarded 25 points for purchasing an annual standard subscription, and 40 for an annual unlimited subscription.