Rangers have had a surprisingly good start to their Champions League, sitting second in a group containing European giants Valencia and Manchester United as well as Turkish champions Bursaspor. Although some optimistic Rangers fans may be eyeing up the next stage of the tournament, the more realistic ones would settle for a third place finish and a place in the Europa League.
After draws against Valencia and Manchester United as well as their win over Bursaspor, Ranger are pretty much guaranteed that third place, barring a complete collapse. After earning a well deserved home draw against Valencia in their last match, Rangers will travel to Spain to take on Los Che on their own patch. If the Glasgow club can come away from Spain with something from a match they will go into as underdogs, then they could realistically start looking at qualification to the next round of Europe’s top competition. Anyone who bet on Champions League group stages will know this is something of a shock.
The Scottish club will go into the Valencia game in good form domestically as well as in European. The Gers produced an impressive display to see off fierce rivals Celtic last weekend, taking the first Old Firm game of the season 3-1. The Scottish side will still be very wary of Valencia despite them going through a blip recently, failing to win in three games and suffering a surprise home loss to Mallorca at the weekend.
Walter Smith may play a similar style to the defensive tactics employed at Old Trafford in their opening group match and allowed them to defy the Champions League predictions to claim a point. If the Glaswegians can hold firm at the back then they could have a chance of nicking a goal on the counter attack and claiming a famous victory at the Mestalla.
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