Spartak Moscow drew 0-0 at Ibrox in Thursday’s Europa League clash with Rangers – but can the Scottish Premiership giants qualify?
Halfway through their Europa League group stage campaign and Rangers’ hopes are in the balance. A home win against Rapid Vienna was flanked by two draws against Villarreal and Spartak Moscow, marking a respectable return to Europe for Steven Gerrard’s side so far.
But a trip to 2017 Russian Premiership champions Spartak certainly represents a potential stumbling block as Gerrard aims to guide Rangers into the knockout-stages.
Fortunately for the Ibrox giants, however, Sparktak could be without their three key players heading into the return fixture on November 8.
“Fernando will be out for 10 days and we hope he will return after that. Ze Luis has a hip injury and we are hopeful he can return to training next week, although we don’t know when he will be match fit,” caretaker boss Raul Riancho said in quotes reported by the Daily Record.
“Luiz Adriano (below) had stomach problems, but we hope that is just a short-term bug.”
Ze Luis has scored five goals in eight league games this season for Spartak while midfielder Fernando (below) is arguably the first name on the club’s team sheet, a hugely influential presence in the centre of the park.
The former AC Milan striker Luiz Adriano has struggled for goals of late but his expected absence for the clash against Rangers leaves Spartak rather short of options going forward.
Though Rangers will have to improve at the other end after two games without a goal.
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