Rangers: Galatasaray at home in the Europa League – a preview
After Rangers dominant 5-1 win against Motherwell, we move on to the next round of Europa League, with Turkish giants Galatasaray visiting on Thursday…
Already the hype from the weekend’s win has evaporated as quickly as Celtic’s Champions League aspirations and it’s time, once again, to focus on the match ahead. I personally love having midweek football for this reason, though I can see why managers, trainers, medical staff and even players don’t, but just having something there to bridge the gap makes it seem less of an eternity.
Next up is Thursday’s match against Turkish giants Galatasaray, in a rare home game for Rangers. There’s a lot riding on this one, as we talked about before, with a big co-efficiency swing in line if the Gers should win. A victory for the Light Blues would ensure two UCL placements from next season onward, rather than one, as Scotland would replace Turkey on the list. You’d think, then, Hoops fans will also be cheering for us tonight, so they aren’t stuck with Europa again next season.
Galatasaray have scored 5 goals so far this season and Falcao has been directly involved in 4 of them.
Nonetheless, it’s definitely Rangers biggest challenge this season. Having a somewhat more easier time of it in Europe until now, with Lincoln Red Imps and Willem II, might have clouded judgement somewhat, but for your average Bear just reading the Galatasaray team sheet may be cause for a wakeup.
That’s right, you probably, actually will know some of the players for the Yellow-Reds and not just from FIFA. Former Manchester United, Atletico Madrid, Monaco and still Colombian international striker Radamel Falcao leads the attack. He’s still quite capable of banging them in too, with 3 goals and an assist in 3 games of the Super Lig so far this season. So, basically, Galatasaray have scored 5 goals so far this season and Falcao has been directly involved in 4 of them. He’s that important.
I mean, the team list is really a who’s who of talented players who are now in their 30s. Former Barcelona attacking midfielder Arda Turan, former Liverpool winger Ryan Babel, former Valencia and West Ham United midfielder Sofiane Feghouli. All those, and Falcao too, north of 30. It’s like the Istanbul equivalent of the MLS.
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Galatasaray themselves sit joint top of the table, second only on goal difference, with 7 points out of a possible 9 this season – which is a reasonable start, given last year’s struggles. Finishing 6th overall, 13 points adrift, was probably not very well received by the Galatasaray Ultras, who are used to seeing their team dominate. Indeed, they won the Lig two seasons ago and have won it more than any other club in Turkey at 22.
Basically, don’t underestimate them. It’s easy, particularly with Rangers looking so dominant this year, to get carried away. Yes, we dropped points to Hibs and Livingston, but both those games were more than winnable. Galatasaray is a whole new kettle of fish and many look at them, right or wrong, as the favorites.
In any case, it’s set to be a good game and an emotional one for our own Ianis Hagi. Hagi, who has really found his feet at Ibrox this season, was born in Istanbul and his father Gheorghe, nicknamed Hagi, was a Galatasaray (and Real Madrid) legend both playing for, and managing, the Turkish side in his career.
With the game looming, watchable on Rangers TV at 7:45pm this Thursday, it’s important for Steven Gerrard to reign in the emotions and ensure his side are as up for this as Galatasaray are. The latter are just off a disappointing draw and will be looking for the rebound, let’s hope Rangers can delay that until their next Super Lig game. I do love mid-week football, but it’s infinitely better when it involves Rangers winning.