Rangers made life hard for themselves against Servette by missing open goals in both legs but PSV Eindhoven won’t be as forgiving.
The Dutch giants demonstrated their finishing power with a 7-2 aggregate win over Sturm Graz and Michael Beale will need to get his tactics and team selection right from the first whistle next week.
Rangers legend Ally McCoist had a word of warning ahead of the visit of PSV Eindhoven who he thinks will pose an entirely different threat to the one of last year, as told on TNT Sports.
The former Gers boss and number nine was on commentary duty for the UEFA Super Cup when asked about his old side’s chances:
“It’s a really difficult task. I’ll tell you why; I watched the game last night and I thought Rangers deserved to go through. Should have and probably could have won the game, it wasn’t a great first half but a better team performance in the second half.
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“They knocked PSV out this time last year but I just think it’s a different PSV this time. They look stronger, they look quicker, and more of a goal threat. It’s a big ask, but it’s certainly not beyond Rangers that’s for sure.”
Rangers given PSV Eindhoven word of warning
Rangers couldn’t have had a much harder draw than PSV Eindhoven for the £25m shootout .
Marseille looked like a tough one on paper but Panathanaikos knocked them out on penalties proving, as if we didn’t know, that anything can happen in Champions League qualification.
What might go in Rangers favour is that PSV Eindhoven are having to field interest for several key players.
Joey Veerman, Ibrahim Sangare and Johan Bakayoko have all been the subject of speculation.
Unfortunately, with the first leg at Ibrox on Tuesday, it doesn’t look like anything is going to happen quickly enough to significantly weaken their team.
The addition of Malik Tillman doesn’t strengthen PSV but what it does do is replace the numbers that Xavi Simons would probably have delivered.
McCoist is right, it is a big ask for Rangers but it was a big ask last season when we beat PSV Eindhoven and a big ask when we got to the Europa League final.