Rangers could be without as many as five wingers and eight players for the Europa League Round of 16 clash with Benfica – as Ross McCausland readies a late injury test.
The Rangers squad is besieged with injury problems and has been pretty much ever since Philippe Clement came through the door at the club.
In fact, Rangers’ startling injury issues stretch back a couple of years with the club unable to keep its biggest stars fit for a consistent period of time.
Now, as the club prepares to enter the Estadio de Luz, Rangers manager Philippe Clement has bemoaned a lack of options in the wide areas of the pitch.
The Ibrox manager has also pointed to the potential absences of eight players in total.
Rangers injury woes ahead of Benfica
Claiming that the club is already missing four wide players, Rangers will definitely be without Rabbi Matondo, Abdallah Sima, and Oscar Cortes for the match.
Whilst the Colombian isn’t in the Europa League squad anyway, we imagine the fourth and final option Clement is referring to is Scott Wright.
Ross McCausland – who was subject to a bruising challenge in the weekend’s defeat to Motherwell – had been snapped in training.
“As you probably know we miss four wingers tomorrow,” said Clement. “Ross (McCausland) maybe also we will see.
“He did a warm up today, he did didn’t train with the team. He did individual work, we will see tomorrow if he is available to play some minutes or not.
“The other four wingers are out. So I have five wingers, and maybe five of them are out so that’s a bad situation.
“We miss two playmakers with Kieran Dowell and Todd Cantwell and we miss one striker with Danilo.
“That’s a lot of offensive qualities that we miss tomorrow, so it’s about finding other solutions.”
Gers to be competitive in Europa League Round of 16
The situation out wide lays bare the injury problems that Rangers are facing as a squad but it will not stop Philippe Clement demanding a top performance.
The Ibrox manager is a problem solver rather than a moaner and we expect Rangers to find a way to line up which makes the team competitive v Benfica.
Right-back Dujon Sterling has proven himself a very capable deputy on the right-flank, whilst Fabio Silva has played off the left before recently.
The Gers boast an impressive Europa League record over the last few seasons and Benfica will prove a stiff test of the club’s stature in the competition.
That said, the Portuguese giants aren’t exactly in the best moment themselves.
