Following a rather drab nil-nil draw against hosts Sydney FC, Rangers will take on an old foe in the shape of AEK Athens in the final game of the Festival of Football International Club Tournament. The match is due to kick off on Saturday 31th July at 0800 BST (1700 local time in Australia).
Torrid conditions in Sydney prevented any real competitive football in the Gers last match in the tournament against Sydney FC. In fact some speculated that the match may have had to be abandoned due to the torrential rain. Unfortunately for the Ibrox men Kenny Miller limped off suffering a recurrence of his shin splints injury. Lee McCulloch and Kyle Lafferty also limped off late on but these injuries are not thought to be serious.
Speaking to the official Rangers website, manager Walter Smith said “Kenny has the shin splints issue which is painful but it will only become a worry to us if it becomes chronic which will mean he will have to miss games.”
“However, just now if he gets a couple of days rest between games then he is ok. It doesn’t seem to be painful when he is playing; it’s after the game that he feels it.”
“We’ll give him a bit of a rest when we go home and that should clear things up”.
In better news Smith has revealed that Bougherra has recovered from the knock he picked up in the match against Blackburn Rovers. “Madjid will be ok. He took a kick in the calf but he has recovered from this and will play against AEK.”
So it look like Rangers will line up with McGregor in goal with the new look flat back four of Broadfoot, Weir, Webster and Bougherra.
A midfield of Davis, Edu, Whittaker and Naismith seems likely, assuming of course that the gaffer opts to rest McCulloch and Lafferty following the knocks picked up in the previous match.
Smith may also be tempted to rest Kenny Miller but it is expected that he will play and will most probably will be partnered by Lafferty, with Little and Fleck as other options for the Gers manager.
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