Rangers ramp up their pre-season preparations when they lock horns with Greek side Olympiacos on Wednesday evening at Ibrox Stadium in a friendly.
The Gers are gearing up for a Champions League qualification campaign and a quest to challenge Celtic for the Scottish Premiership title, while the visitors will be aiming to regain their respective domestic crown.
Rangers head into their third pre-season clash of the summer after a victory and a loss at their Ibrox home in Glasgow, facing Newcastle United and Hamburger since the middle of July.
Saturday afternoon saw the Bundesliga 2 side travel to Scotland, and Michael Beale’s men recorded their maiden win of the term courtesy of first-half goals from Fashion Sakala and James Tavernier.
Following a sensational 2021-22 campaign in which the Gers went through the entirety of the league season unbeaten to lift the Premiership title, there have been successive second-placed finishes behind their arch rivals from Celtic Park.
Largely down to Rangers’ performances in the 2021-22 Europa League under Giovanni van Bronckhorst, second place in Scotland last season was enough to secure a berth in the qualification rounds of the Champions League, and Beale’s charges will play either Genk or Servette in August as they aim to reach the group stage.
Leon Balogun, Dujon Sterling and Kieran Dowell have all arrived from England to help Rangers battle on four front this season, with the latter moving from Norwich City on a free transfer in June.
Olympiacos head to Ibrox on a mission to regain their Greek Super League title after finishing third behind AEK Athens and Panathinaikos in 2022-23, meaning they were unable to make it four straight domestic crowns.
The 47-time league winners are currently under the stewardship of 42-year-old Diego Martinez, with the Spaniard leaving his post at Espanyol in his homeland as the Catalonian club were relegated from La Liga in June.
The Thrylos have – like their hosts on Wednesday night – played three games already this pre-season, with their most recent being a 1-1 draw against Sabah of Azerbaijan.
Youssef El Arabi found the scoresheet when Olympiacos faced Danish outfit Nordsjaelland in Austria earlier this month – it is fair to say that Martinez is giving his charges a wide variety of opponents ahead of the new term.
For the first time since the 2018-19 term, the Thrylos will not participate in the Champions League qualifying rounds, as they wait to find out who they duel with in the third qualifying round of the Europa League in August.
Team News
Rangers have carried some injury woes into the new season from 2022-23, with experienced midfielder Steven Davis sidelined until next month with a cruciate ligament injury.
With the dangerous Ryan Kent moving to Turkish giants Fenerbahce on a free transfer, Beale will be hoping Nigerian striker Cyriel Dessers can fire the Gers to the title this season – the 28-year-old netted six goals in Serie A for Cremonese last season.
Olympiacos will be without one of their marksmen on Wednesday evening, as 30-year-old Ahmed Hassan Koka continues to recover from a knee injury suffered in May.
Full-back Doron Leidner sustained a serious cruciate ligament injury whilst on loan at Austria Wien in May, and the Israeli is expected to miss the majority of the 2023-24 term.
Rangers possible starting lineup:
Butland; Tavernier, Balogun, Davies, Ridvan; Raskin, Dowell, Hagi, Matondo; Sikala, Sima
Olympiacos possible starting lineup:
Tzolakis; Reabciuk, Ntoi, Ba, Androutsos; Bouchalakis, Iborra, Fortounis, Biel; Masouras, El Arabi
We say: Rangers 2-2 Olympiacos
Rangers have looked competitive in their two pre-season friendlies so far and you would expect the same against an Olympiacos side who only managed to qualify for the Europa League last term.
Martinez’s men continue their travels Europe with a clash at Ibrox on Wednesday, and we believe the Greek giants will have enough to fight for a share of the friendly spoils.
