Jermain Defoe and Alfredo Morelos will be hoping to take their Scottish Premiership form into the Europa League clash against Porto on Thursday.
Porto defender Chancel Mbemba admits the Portuguese giants will have to be on red alert to stop Rangers duo Alfredo Morelos and Jermain Defoe during Thursday’s Europa League clash at the Estadio do Dragao, speaking to the Daily Record.
Steven Gerrard’s side have won one and lost one in the Europa League so far, a last-gasp defeat at Young Boys the worst possible preparation for an away trip to the group’s most dangerous and high profile opposition.
But with Morelos and Defoe scoring goals for fun, Rangers will have a chance in Porto this week. The former netted his 15th goal of the season already in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Hearts while the latter has 12 in just 16 games to his name.
And former Newcastle defender Mbemba knows that Porto cannot afford to be complacent when they come up against two players who make goalscoring look as natural as taking a breath.
“We’ve watched Rangers and it’s clear that they’re a strong team. Morelos and Defoe are dangerous forwards with quality,” the £7 million Mbemba said.
“Our challenge is to progress to the next stage of the Europa League and to do this we need a positive result against Rangers.”
Porto have conceded just four times in seven Primeira Liga games this season but they’ve looked a little more vulnerable in Europe, sneaking past Young Boys before going down 2-0 to Feyenoord in Holland.
Morelos and Defoe should be licking their lips at the prospect of coming up against Pepe and Ivan Marcano who, with a combined age of 68, appear to be well past their best.
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