Rangers take on Rapid Vienna at Ibrox on Thursday.
Heart of Midlothian defender Peter Haring has told The Scottish Sun that he hopes Rangers lose to Rapid Vienna on Thursday – but believes they have better strikers than Celtic.
Rangers lost 1-0 at Livingston on Sunday in just their second defeat under Steven Gerrard, meaning talk of the Gers challenging for the Scottish Premiership title has somewhat quietened this week.
On Thursday night, Rangers do have a chance to hit back though, as they take on Rapid Vienna at Ibrox in their second group stage game of their Europa League campaign.
After a 2-2 away draw at Villarreal in their first game, Rangers will be hoping to build with a home win over Rapid Vienna, who finished third in Austria’s top flight last season.
With Villarreal and Spartak Moscow still to visit Ibrox, this may be Rangers’ most winnable home game of the group stage, and many will expect Gerrard’s men to bounce back with a home win on Thursday.
One man who knows plenty about Austrian and Scottish football is former Rapid Vienna defensive midfielder Peter Haring, who just left SV Ried for Heart of Midlothian over the summer and has made a huge impact in Scotland already with five goals in 13 games.
Now, Haring has told The Scottish Sun that he hopes Rapid will claim the win over Rangers, but feels that the Gers do have better strikers than Celtic, who also take on Austrian opposition in Red Bull Salzburg, as the Hearts ace hailed both Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty.
“With Rangers, they have Kyle Lafferty and Alfredo Morelos and both of them can make goals out of nothing,” said Haring. “It think it will be a very close match at Ibrox with Rapid going through a difficult period of course. A mistake could win the game for this one. It will be tight.”
“But I am certainly keeping my fingers crossed for a Rapid win. For me, collectively Celtic are the better team, but Rangers have better strikers,” he added.
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