Rangers have been fired a warning regarding Nigerian international striker Victor Osimhen by Napoli boss Luciano Spalletti ahead of their Champions League visit to Italy.
The Gers face an uphill task to go to the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona and leave with the necessary point to keep their European dream alive this season with Napoli the form team in Europe.
The Serie A leaders are fresh off the back of an impressive 1-0 victory over AS Roma at the Stadio Olímpico which matched a club record 11 straight victories and dates back to the time of the great Argentine himself.
That means heading into the Champions League visit of Rangers Napoli know they can create a new club record by winning 12 straight matches at the beginning of the season and it adds to the incentive of Wednesday night.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Rangers head to Italy bang out of form, with the club ravaged by injuries, the manager’s job hanging by a thread and without any Rangers fans in the stadium.
The man who scored that winner against AS Roma, Victor Osimhen, showed great strength to get the wrong side of Chris Smalling and showed great technique to emphatically volley the ball into the bottom corner.
It proved a decisive moment of outstanding quality and shows why Napoli signed a deal to secure the 23-year-old from Lille worth a reported £70m in 2020.
Rangers fired Victor Osimhen warning by Napoli coach
The striker was injured for the trip to Ibrox earlier in the campaign – in a match Napoli eventually won 3-0 – in an ominous enough warning for Rangers but now Luciano Spalletti has fired another in the Ibrox club’s direction.
Branding Victor Osimhen “extraordinary”, the Italian coach believes the Napoli striker is on track to become a genuine world beater if he can only get his emotions in check.
“Osimhen has these sudden changes of pace that only he can do,” said Spalletti [Football Italia].
“When he gets his emotions sorted out, he will become extraordinary.
“At times he tries to do everything himself, attacks the ball and the goal without realising where his teammates are. But he is physical, he is strong and we need him to complete the squad, also in the air.
“He is one of the best headers of the ball I have ever seen. We didn’t give him as much service last season, but he was also decisive when defending on set plays and resolving a lot of issues for us there.”
Remarkably, Rangers can keep their European dream alive by earning a point against Napoli but with Victor Osimhen ready to explode onto the world stage, Gers fans might not be holding out too much hope.
Meanwhile, Rangers could be missing up to 10 first team players for the trip to Napoli.