Rangers’ confirmed starting XI for their fifth and final pre-season friendly game against Union Berlin in Germany
Philippe Clement has named his Rangers starting XI and substitutes to face Bundesliga outfit FC Union Berlin at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei in their fifth and final pre-season friendly in Germany.
Philippe Clement’s side are winless over the course of this summer to date, playing out a goalless draw with Standard Liege before a run of three straight defeats to Ajax, Manchester United and Birmingham City in recent weeks. They now face another difficult test against a European opponent, with Union narrowly retaining their top-flight status on goal difference last term. Kick-off is at 4.00pm (UK time).
Jack Butland comes back into the side to start in between the sticks. It’s a back four comprised of captain James Tavernier, John Souttar, Ben Davies and Jefte. The middle of the park will be occupied by Connor Barron and Mohamed Diomande with Scott Wright and Oscar Cortes occupying both flanks. Tom Lawrence takes up the No.10 position, supporting frontman Cyriel Dessers. Despite boarding the flight to Germany, Dujon Sterling is surprisingly left out of the matchday squad.
Connor Goldson didn’t travel with the group, with the central defender instead flying out to neighbouring Austria to join up with new club Aris Limassol at their pre-season training camp.
What has winger, Ross McCausland said?
“There’s quite a few (learnings) I can take. I played in a lot of games and in some quite big situations; there’s a lot of stuff I can take from last season into this one. The biggest thing would be trying to be as involved in the games as I can, being smart on the ball, and trying to outsmart someone who is bigger when you need to find something different. All the teams we play against will play in a different way, and you need to adapt in order to hurt them in some ways.
“It comes so fast that you don’t have the chance to think about it. I’ve always said this, but it felt like it just happened and I didn’t have the time to reflect. I’ve had the time to think now and enjoy the experiences. I’m hopefully going to be more used to the physical aspects and in the legs as well, and I can use it to my advantage. I’d say something that I want to achieve this season is to be a regular in the games, as well as getting my numbers up in terms of goals and assists. We all want to take our experiences that we’ve gained and use them positively as young players.
“We’ve done bits and bobs (on Union Berlin), but we really want to focus on ourselves because we know what’s around the corner. They’re going to be physical and aggressive because we all know we want to make it as tough as possible for each other with the season coming up.”
Here’s your confirmed starting line ups ahead of this afternoon’s friendly match in the German capital…
Rangers starting XI:
Jack Butland; James Tavernier (C), John Souttar, Ben Davies, Jefte; Connor Barron, Mohamed Diomande; Tom Lawrence, Scott Wright, Oscar Cortes; Cyriel Dessers.
SUBS: Liam Kelly (GK), Lewis Budinauckas (GK), Ridvan Yilmaz, Rabbi Matondo, Clinton Nsiala, Leon Balogun, Leon King, Ross McCausland, Danilo.
Union Berlin starting XI:
Carl Klaus; Paul Jaeckel, Diogo Leite, Danilho Doekhi, Robin Gosens, Yorbe Vertessen, Rani Khedira (C), Benedict Hollerbach, Jordan Siebatcheu, Janik Haberer, Aljoscha Kemlein.
SUBS: Yannic Stein (GK), Ivan Prtajin, Chris Bedia, Leo Querfeld, Tim Skarke, Christopher Trimmel, Lukas Tousart, Alex Kral, Oluwaseun Ogbemudia, David Preu.
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