STEVEN GERRARD spoke to the press today ahead of Rangers’ first Champions League qualifying fixture against Malmö tomorrow night.
With the squad travelling to Sweden today for their first taste of UCL football in nearly 10 years, the manager has highlighted the team’s expectations as they prepare to face the Swedish side.
He said: “We want to try and be the best version of ourselves over the course of the season, all of our focus is on Malmö and dealing with the first 90 minutes to set it up for Ibrox. We go over in a good place.
“I have watched a lot of Malmö in the last 10 days and have been impressed with the fitness levels and work ethic.
"They can play with a four but also change to a back five, so we have to be prepared for this. They can be very aggressive and press high at home.
“I think Malmö are an impressive team, very fit and work hard for the manager. It will be a big challenge for us but one that we are very excited about.”
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The manager underlined the team’s excitement ahead of a busy season ahead but added the squad’s mentality to take each game at a time during their busy fixture list, saying: “We are used to this sort of schedule; it is the reason why I have built a strong squad as is impossible to ask the same 11 players to go every match.
"We have a few suspensions and injuries for this match, but we have more than enough to put a good team out.
“Every player has a big motivation in Europe to test themselves against the best players. We have been on some exciting European journeys so far and we hope for another one this year. It is a challenge the staff and players are all excited about.”
Steven Gerrard's squad are set to take on Malmö on Tuesday night (kick-off 18:00) at the Eleda Stadium in Sweden in the Champion’s League third Qualifying round and the match is available on RangersTV for £7.99 excluding the UK and Scandinavia.
Tom Miller will be on commentary as and we’ll have exclusive previews ahead of the match as well as all the action live.
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