Rangers warned by Legia’s Domagoj Antolic ahead of Ibrox return leg

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Steven Gerrard and his Glasgow Rangers host Legia at Ibrox in the second leg of their Europa League playoff tie next Thursday.

Glasgow Rangers may have avoided defeat at Legia Warsaw but ahead of the Europa League playoff second leg at Ibrox, opposition midfielder Domagoj Antolic appears optimistic of the Polish side’s chances against Steven Gerrard and co (Sportowefakty).

Rangers dominated proceedings early on against the Ekstraklasa runners-up, who in turn impressed in the second half at the Polish Army Stadium, but despite an entertaining game, neither side could break the deadlock and, at 0-0, it remains evenly poised ahead of the Ibrox clash.

Croatia international Antolic has highlighted the crucial nature of an away goal, which Rangers failed to register at Legia, and suggested that Gerrard’s men will be in no hurry to attack due to the fear of getting caught out on the break and shipping an away goal of their own at Ibrox.

“We know that we want to win, but it was a difficult match,” Antolic told Sportowefakty. “We still have a good chance in Glasgow. 0-0 is not a bad result. We’ll try to shoot something in Scotland. If we score an away goal, we will take a step towards the Europa League.

“They didn’t surprise us, we watched their matches, we predicted how they would play. They have quality, but we will try to hit their weaknesses. It may be more difficult in the second leg than it was in Athens. I expect the Rangers to press from the beginning, but we will be ready for it. On the other hand, they have to watch out for goals, if they lose they will have to score two, which is why I doubt that they will attack aggressively from the beginning.”

Rangers have won all their home games this season, and now have the return leg at Ibrox in which they will seek to reach the Europa League group stage for a second consecutive campaign.

While Antolic’s comments aren’t disrespectful as such, his assumption of how he feels the Gers will approach the game and suggesting they need to “watch out” for something in the game is unlikely to go down well with the Light Blues players, so he could well have just done their pre-match team talk for them.