Rangers star wary of Mourinho's 'tricks' but insists squad can trump stunning Istanbul display vs Fenerbahce

Leon Balogun is adamant that Jose Mourinho will have a few “tricks up his sleeve” that Rangers must be wary of when Fenerbahce arrive in Glasgow for their Europa League last-16 second leg at Ibrox on Thursday.

Barry Ferguson's side stunned the ‘Special One’ in Istanbul last week with a 3-1 first leg victory over the Turkish giants and are now strong favourites to finish the job back on home soil with a spot in the quarter-finals up for grabs.

However, ex-Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham boss Mourinho has made a habit of masterminding impressive comebacks over the years, particularly in European competition. But Balogun is confident his Light Blues team mates will be ready for whatever the legendary Portuguese coach has to throw at them.

Rangers star won’t take eye of the ball ahead of Celtic clash

With an Old Firm clash against Celtic to follow on Sunday, the Nigerian international admits he won’t allow himself to take his eye off the ball ahead of facing Mourinho’s men.

He told Sky Sports: “It's a big week with two very big fixtures. Obviously Fenerbahce is first up and we had a very good result over there. But we're going against the Special One with some very good players and I think it's far from over.

“I can only speak for myself but it really is like that (one game at a time.) I don't think about the weekend so much. Obviously it is there but those games are always big. Right now the main focus is getting through to the next round in Europe, therefore we have to focus on Fenerbahce. I'm sorry to be boring!

“It was a really good result and performance. But like I said, it’s Mourinho and I'm sure he will have a few tricks up his sleeve. He wouldn't have been happy at all after the tie over there. But I think there's a lot of confidence for us to take and we can probably up our game in terms of on the ball.”

Rangers strong continental form is a stark contrast to their woeful season domestically, with little more than pride to play for heading into the forthcoming Glasgow derby against their bitter city rivals this weekend. And while Balogun isn’t able to put his finger on why there's been such a difference between performance levels, he insists it makes Thursday night’s clash worth relishing even more.

“If we or anyone knew, we probably would have fixed that problem by now,” Balogun admitted. “I think many factors came together this season and we have to address that quite clearly at the end of the season.

“Because the situation domestically is the way it is. There's no way to sugarcoat it's bad. Therefore, it's even nicer to have a game like Fenerbahce coming up with the chance of going through to the next round.”

Ibrox crowd can be Rangers 12th man once again

Balogun admits the Ibrox faithful can be their 12th man once again, having played their part in a number of memorable European nights in recent years. He added: “The Ibrox factor is always massive for us, especially in those games. The European run when we got to the final, I think that's what got us through many games.

“Leipzig, Dortmund, yeah, I'll never forget those games for my whole life. They were unbelievable. If we perform well, the fans feed off us and we feed off them and that creates quite an intimidating environment.

“Even though I have to give credit to Fenerbahce. It's quite intimidating over there, up there with the best I've witnessed. But we can be very confident going into the game based on the result we achieved over there. But we have to look at this game thinking we start from scratch and make sure that we see it through.”

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