Rangers will be looking to keep their season going until after the clocks go forward with a double-header against Fenerbahce between them and their season-ending.
A second visit to Ibrox from The Special one will be a blockbuster occasion for the return leg, but only if Barry Ferguson can bring a positive result back to Glasgow.
Standing between Rangers and a place in the next round isn’t just Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce, but one of the continent’s most respected target men.
’Genius’ Edin Dzeko the danger man for Fenerbahce
A league title winner in Germany and England, a cup winner in Serie A as well as individual player of the year and top goal scorer accolades, Edin Dzeko is one of the finest strikers of his generation.
At 38-years old, he is still the man to watch for Fenerbahce and the talisman of Mourinho’s team with Turkish football content creator Mert Aydin telling The Herald:
“The brain of this Fenerbahce team is unquestionably Edin Dzeko. He is nearly 39 now, but he is still a genius. His football IQ is incredible. Even if he is struggling physically in a game, his mind is working. If he doesn’t score himself he creates space for En-Nesyri. He is the leader of the team.
“The other players look up to him. When something happens, more often than not he’s the guy who makes it happen. He directs his team mates. In many ways, he is like a second coach.
“En-Nesyri came in from Sevilla for €19.5m, a club and Super Lig record, in the summer. He is a very good player, a very good header of the ball. He went through a bad time to begin with, but he is a regular scorer now.
“He was criticised a lot by Fenerbahce fans at the start because he cost lots of money and did nothing. But in the last couple of months he is scoring in nearly every game. That has been very important. Now nobody is talking about how much they paid for him. He has become one of the best players in the team.”
One thing Dzeko doesn’t have, and that he was never really blessed with, is pace, however, he could find space in a phone box.
How can Rangers handle Dzeko?
What doesn’t help, is that Rangers are going through something of a defensive crisis.
Thankfully, John Souttar is available again and Leon Balogun was a calming influence against Motherwell, despite it being too late for him to make a difference to the result.
Both, if selected, will need to be at their best if Rangers are to get a result in Turkey and keep the tie alive.
Balogun, at 36, might be two years Dzeko’s junior, but he is the Bosnia legend’s equal in terms of composure and his ability to read the game.
There will be battles all over the pitch that Rangers will need to win, however, that one could be the most fascinating, whoever comes out on top could well be on the winning side.
