STRIKERS Oleg Salenko and Ally McCoist were given fitness clearance at
Ibrox yesterday and this morning both will be in the 18-strong group of
players who will fly out to Turin for the Champions' League showdown
with Juventus.
It remains to be seen which of these two players manager Walter Smith
will start the game with, but my money is on the Russian
internationalist with McCoist, who made the briefest of appearances at
Firhill as a substitute at the weekend, remaining on the bench.
Smith did not concern himself with pre-match excuses yesterday as he
was asked about the injuries which will leave him without Brian Laudrup,
Paul Gascoigne, Ian Ferguson, and Charlie Miller for the crucial Italian
job the Scottish champions face tomorrow night.
Instead, Smith looked at the positive aspects of his selection
problems and pointed out: ''I won't have to lose too much sleep this
time over the three foreigners' rule which has been a real dilemma in
the past. There are only four foreign payers listed in the pool and two
of them, Gordan Petric and Craig Moore, will both play.
''That leaves it as a straight choice between Oleg Salenko and Alexei
Mikhailichenko. There are no alternatives. I have to look at the way I
have had to do in other games this season. Losing Laudrup and Gascoigne
has been a blow, but it has meant fewer complications in my mind over
the team choice.
''For example, Moore goes in as a straight replacement for Alan
McLaren, which allows us to leave Stephen Wright in his usual position
and causes the minimum of adjustment to a defensive set-up which has
looked so solid for us so far.
''I don't have any worries about Moore going in alongside Petric and
Richard Gough because, after all, that is his original position. It was
as a centre-half that we signed the boy, but we have been forced to play
him out of position most of the time.''
Salenko will relish a return to the European stage and the European
style. The Russian has impressed more and more with each match in the
frantic atmosphere of the premier division.
In the more studied approach of the Continent he could blossom and his
reputation will precede him to Turin.
McCoist, in any case, has shown his value in stepping from the bench
this season for both Rangers and Scotland and that may linger in the
back of Smith's mind as he looks towards this game.
There has to be the hope in the Ibrox camp that they can snatch a goal
and maintain a challenge in their Champions' League group.
McCoist and Salenko carry that threat, as does Gordon Durie after his
Firhill hat trick.
Smith must marshal his forces well for this vital game and that is
what will be occupying his mind between now and the game.
Yesterday, the Ibrox manager was censured by the SFA for remarks made
to referee Kenny Clark after the 1-0 defeat the Ibrox side suffered at
home to Hibs.
The Edinburgh team's manager, Alex Miller, was given the same warning
for a similar offence.
But lower league managers, Tom Steven, of Cowdenbeath, and Billy
Kirkwood, of Dundee United, were dealt with more severely.
Both were fined #500 after a touchline bust-up when their respective
clubs met earlier in the season.
The Rangers players who will travel to Italy are:
Goram, Thomson, Scott, Petric, Gough, Moore, Wright, Robertson,
Cleland, McCall, Durrant, Murray, Bollan, Brown, Durie, McCoist,
Salenko, Mikhailichenko.
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