Rangers midfielder Nicolas Raskin has had to bide his time to make a Europa League impression at Ibrox as he looks forward to the clash with Olympiacos.
The Belgian U21 international, who is now 23, has suffered after back-to-back ankle injuries which have disrupted the once highly-rated young midfielder’s Rangers career.
Now back in the team and impressing supporters, there are increasing hopes that Nicolas Raskin can get his career back on track and achieve his dream of a switch to the Premier League.
But before then the midfielder will have to perform with Rangers and the last few weeks have certainly been more positive after a challenging 24 months or so.
One of October’s bright sparks, Raskin insists he’s staying calm amid the chaos of Ibrox and taking things one day at a time as Rangers look to kickstart a stuttering campaign.
Nicolas Raskin ‘calm’ amid stuttering Rangers form
“It’s never funny when you get injured,” Raskin told a pre-match press conference. “And especially when I had two times the same ankle.
“I was a bit sad at the time but we worked good with the medical staff and I’m back so I’m happy to be back on the pitch.
“We know expectations are high. We have those expectations also.
“We want to win every game. We know that we’ve not had some of the results we wanted the last couple of weeks but we’re working hard.
“I think the way we play, we’re trying to do something good. It’s about being maybe better in both boxes some games.
“We’re really calm with that. We know what we have to do. We know we’re working hard.
“So with this mentality, OK, we’re going to improve day by day.”
Rangers star on key to beating Olympiacos
Olympiacos promise to prove a stern test for a fledging Rangers team who have reserved their best performances for the Europa League this season.
With the Greek side also winning two matches from three in the competition this campaign, Rangers know they will have to be at their best to take anything from the clash in Piraeus.
But Nicolas Raskin is under no illusions that the secret to picking up all three points starts with Rangers putting into a functional showing as a collective unit.
“A game like tomorrow night is a game that you need to do as a team,” said Raskin.
“You can’t do it if the team is not all together so I think we first need to show a good team performance and then out of that we can maybe have some good individualities.
“But first of all it’s like, get a good team.”
