Rangers take on Ufa in the final round of Europa League qualifying.
Rangers hero Andrei Kanchelskis has told The Scottish Sun that he thinks Rangers have a 70% of chance advancing past FC Ufa and into the Europa League group stage.
The Gers have enjoyed a strong run in the Europa League qualifiers this summer, first beating Macedonian side FK Shkupi before seeing off both Osijek and, most recently, Maribor.
Steven Gerrard is now edging ever closer to bringing Rangers back into the Europa League group stage, with just Russian side Ufa standing in their way.
Rangers will have real confidence of winning the tie to head into the group stage, with the tie no longer under threat of being cancelled, with Ufa players receiving visas for the trip today.
Ufa’s squad isn’t littered with big names, though after a sixth-place finish in the Russian Premier League last season, they aren’t to be taken lightly.
However, former Rangers ace Andrei Kanchelskis is very familiar with Ufa, and has predicted that Rangers will head into the group stage, suggesting to The Scottish Sun that there is just a 30% chance of Ufa advancing.
Kanchelskis thought Ufa were terrible in the two-legged tie against Rangers’ former nemesis Progres Niederkorn, winning 4-3 on aggregate – and he feels that Ufa will lose heavily if they perform similarly again, just days after losing 3-0 to Dinamo Moscow.
“I would say the chances are 70 per cent in favour of Rangers and only 30 per cent for Ufa,” said Kanchelskis. “I watched Ufa in their match in Luxembourg against Progres and they looked terrible. If they play like that against Rangers, they will lose heavily.”
“Perhaps Ufa were tired, but they also looked naive tactically too. I couldn’t see what style they were attempting to play. In fairness, to Ufa, just getting to the this stage in their first season in European football is an achievement in itself,” he added.
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