Has Rangers’ Nikola Katic inadvertently provided Spartak Moscow’s pre-match pep talk?

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Nikola Katic publicly turned down Rangers’ Europa League opponents Spartak Moscow in June.

Rangers have already got one over on Spartak Moscow this season.

Back in June, the Scottish Sun reported that Nikola Katic rejected a lucrative move to the 2017 Russian league champions in order to join Rangers from Slovan Belupo.

In quotes reported by the same publication, the centre-back made it clear why a move to Glasgow appealed more than Moscow.

“The size of the club and Steven Gerrard as a coach were the main factors,” Katic said. “For me, Rangers are a far bigger club than Spartak, for sure, and in my opinion Scottish football is better than Russia.”

Four months on, however, could Katic have inadvertently stoked the fires ahead of Spartak Moscow’s Europa League trip to Ibrox on Thursday?

By pure coincidence, Katic’s Rangers will take on the side he publicly snubbed in the summer, with a place in the next round of the Europa League up for grabs.

Spartak are going into the game in crisis after sacking manager Massimo Carrera on Monday. Fitness coach Raul Riancho will take temporary charge against Steven Gerrard’s side, and the Spaniard will not have to look far for comments to inspire his charges in Glasgow.

Spartak will be desperate to prove that Rangers are not the ‘far bigger club’ and they have the honour of Russian football on their shoulders, too.

Katic might be spared a potentially frosty reception from the visiting support however, with Joe Worrall and Connor Goldson seemingly Gerrard’s first-choice defensive partnership in Europe.