McLeish issues ‘massive’ Rangers claim after Dutch update
Alex McLeish has claimed Rangers don’t need a break from football before the second leg of their Champions League playoff against PSV Eindhoven.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Gers boss said the Ibrox side have a “very strong squad” and don’t need to reschedule their game at the weekend.
The first leg of the fixture finished 2-2 at Ibrox on Tuesday (16 August).
As reported by the Daily Mail (11 August), the Dutch football authorities have granted PSV a “free weekend” before the second leg of the fixture next Wednesday (24 August) by postponing their scheduled game against FC Volendam.
Rangers face a Saturday afternoon trip to Edinburgh to take on Hibernian at Easter Road.
McLeish said the SPL don’t need to make the same accommodations for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side.
“At this stage of the season I don’t want to be pessimistic and say the SPL should do that for Rangers because at the start of the season everyone is in a kind of ‘quick’ mode,” he told Football Insider.
“They’ve got the pre-season out of the way, you’re up and running so I wouldn’t expect at this stage that that’s going to be a massive bonus for PSV because this is the very start of the season.
“Rangers have a strong squad and should be able to go into the European tie and play at their very best level. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, PSV are a really good side, very experienced European side and that is a high level, they’re playing at their best level.“
In other news, a pundit has tipped Rangers to sell Borna Barisic on one condition after Premier League transfer report.