Rangers under Philippe Clement have been well suited to playing in Europe and, in particular, away from home.
The juxtaposition with the domestic results on their travels isn’t lost, but there is an underlying feeling that the manager and his squad are more excited, rather than nervous about playing at Old Trafford.
Man Utd need to be respected given their results in the Europa League so far although Rangers will be encouraged by an area of weakness pointed out by Owen Hargreaves.
Owen Hargreaves names Man Utd weakness Rangers can target
The former Utd and Bayern Munich midfielder knows a thing or two about playing for successful sides and about what it takes to dictate play in the engine room.
After Man Utd’s loss to Brighton, the Premier League Productions pundit highlighted Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte as two players who need to improve.
“I think they struggle to keep the ball with this formation sometimes, you know, I think to progress it between the lines because there’s only two central midfield players,” he explained.
“I think it’s hard to keep it, you know, so you’re relying on individual moments like, you know, from Amad to kind of get you out of trouble, but defensively, you know, they don’t look great.”
How Raskin can dominate Man Utd midfield
Nicolas Raskin looked like he could be heading out the Ibrox exit door at one stage, however, he is now the main man in Rangers midfield.
Not only does he break up counter-attacks and cover every blade of grass, the Belgian is what Hargreaves wants to see from the Man Utd pair.
Raskin is an aggressive ball carrier and passer from midfield in that he plays progressive passes and forward passes more than most of his peers.
Compared to Ugarte and Mainoo, the only metric that Rangers No.43 doesn’t come out on top is key passes.
Throw Connor Barron into the mix and Clement could have the sort of base that he needs to dominate the area of the park that is so often pivotal in European football.
