Earlier today, we told how Bears had cause to be excited by Tom Hateley’s assessment of Legia Warsaw, in an interview with the Glasgow Evening Times.
Hateley, a boyhood Gers fan and son of Rangers legend Mark, currently plies his trade for reigning Polish champions Piast Gliwice and asserts that Legia are not the force they once were.
However, he does go on to identify several quality players within their ranks who Stevie G and co must look out for.
Three Legia Warsaw threats Rangers must nullify
“They have a really tidy player in there, Valeriane Gvilia, who is a typical European central midfielder,” Hateley told the Glasgow Evening Times. “He’s small, but he is neat in possession, a good technician, and has a great passing range. He’ll try to dictate the tempo, so Rangers need to make sure they don’t allow him to do that.”
“Beside him they usually have a couple of Portuguese players, Cafu and Andre Martins. Cafu was on loan from Metz last season and they’ve just bought him for a decent fee, so he’s a good player.
“Legia don’t lose too many goals either, so you have to say they are pretty strong at the back with Cafu protecting in front.”
Verdict
It’s useful to get this sort of insight ahead of the fixture, and these are three names to look out for in the first leg.
Gvilia receives particular praise and a little further digging reveals he is a £900k-rated Georgian international with 22 caps to his name [Transfermarkt].
Meanwhile, the deeper-lying Cafu has experience of playing in Portugal and France’s Ligue 1. His permanent switch this summer set Legia back £720k [Transfermarkt].
Finally, Andre Martins is also a player of some pedigree. He’s rated at £1.80m and has two senior caps for Portugal [Transfermarkt]. The 26-year-old is a former Greek Superleague winner with Olympiacos and completes a highly competent looking midfield.
A positive for Rangers on that front, though, is that they are also extremely strong in that area. It remains to be seen who out of the six possible options starts in the Gers’ central trio in Warsaw, but we’ve taken a stab at it in our Predicted XI.
