On Wednesday evening, Steven Gerrard previewed Rangers’ Europa League Qualifying Playoff Round tie with Legia Warsaw, as seen on Rangers’ official YouTube Channel.
This is the fourth and final stage of qualifying with the Gers having already seen off St Joseph’s of Gibraltar, Progres Niederkorn of Luxembourg and FC Midtjylland of Denmark.
In the final stages of the presser, the manager was asked to provide a fitness update on his squad. Largely, it was positive news, although one player looks as though he’ll be sitting out at least the first leg of the tie.
Rangers summer signing Stewart out of contention?
“No, we have no fitness concerns”, said Gerrard, as seen on Rangers’ YouTube channel. “Greg Stewart has got a bad kick on his calf. So he is unable, but he was named in the 22.”
It was a little strange from the manager to report no issues before seemingly ruling a player out almost in the same breath.
We can only assume that the versatile Stewart picked up this knock during the squad’s final training session.
Had there been question marks over his fitness before that, it’s likely Brandon Barker would have retained his place in the squad.
While the former Killie and Aberdeen loanee can offer the manager something different from the bench, this isn’t a huge blow. He was highly unlikely to start in Warsaw, given the current form of other squad members.
Here’s our Predicted XI for tonight’s crunch clash in Poland, as Stevie G goes in search of away goals with close to a full complement to choose from.
