Rangers starting XI vs Olympiacos: 3 changes from Motherwell comeback win as Clement makes bold captain call
Rangers’ confirmed starting XI for Europa League clash against the Greek giants in Athens
Philippe Clement has named his Rangers starting XI and substitutes to face Europa Conference League holders Olympiacos on matchday four of the Europa League in Piraeus ahead of tonight’s showdown.
The Ibrox side are aiming to add another positive result in the Greek capital to boost their chances of qualifying for the knockout stages of the competition, having bagged six points from three league phase games so far. Last time out, they recorded one of their most emphatic results of the season to date with a 4-0 thrashing of Romanian champions FCSB on home soil.
However, the Light Blues can expect to play in front of an intimidating atmosphere, with the Olympiacos fans famed for their vocal backing of their side - something Clement has already warned his players about.
Clement has decided to make three changes following Sunday’s League Cup semi-final win over Motherwell, with captain James Tavernier DROPPED to the bench. Tom Lawrence misses out through injury, while Leon Balogun is among the substitutes. Dujon Sterling comes in at right-back, with Mohamed Diomande and Robin Propper drafted into the XI.
Goalkeeper Jack Butland wears the captain’s armband in Tavernier’s absence and Cyriel Dessers continues to lead the line with Danilo not included in the club’s European squad.
“We know expectations are high, we have those expectations also, we want to win every game, we know we have not had the results we wanted in the last couple of weeks, but we are working hard.
“With the way we play we are trying to do something good, it is about being better in both boxes in some games but we know what we have to do and we are working hard so with this mentality we are going to improve day by day.
“In a game like tomorrow, you need to do it as a team. You can’t do it if the team are not all together so firstly, we need to show a team performance, and then out of that we can maybe have some good individual performances.”
Here's your confirmed starting line ups ahead of this evening’s Europa League clash at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium...
Olympiacos starting XI:
Konstantinos Tzolakis; David Carmo, Panagiotis Retsos (C), Costinha, Apostolos Apostolopoulos, Rodinei, Chiquinho, Christos Mouzakitis, Gelson Martins, Santiago Hezze, Ayoub El Kaabi.
SUBS: Alexandros Paschalakis (GK), Lorenzo Pirola, Giulian Biancone, Andreas-Richardos Ntoi, Giorgos Masouras, Dani Garcia, Sergio Oliveira, Antonis Papakanellos, Kristoffer Velde, Marko Stamenic, Charalampos Kostoulas, Roman Yaremchuk.
Rangers starting XI:
Jack Butland (C); Dujon Sterling, John Souttar, Robin Propper, Jefte; Connor Barron, Nicolas Raskin; Vaclav Cerny, Mohamed Diomande, Nedim Bajrami; Cyriel Dessers.