Former Celtic defender Ramon Vega has warned Rangers not to underestimate Champions League third qualifying round opponents Servette ahead of their first-leg clash at Ibrox tomorrow night.
The Swiss side edged out Genk after a shootout last week having played the vast majority of their second leg in Belgium with 10 men.
And former Switzerland internationalist Vega, who won the treble during a six-month stint at Parkhead in 2001, insists that team unity will prove a substantial barrier to Michael Beale’s side’s progress to the play-off round.
“Although there isn’t really one individual that Rangers need to look out for, that doesn’t make them any less dangerous,” Vega said.
“Servette is a team and it’s all about the collective with them, with every player having a job to do and knowing how to do it.
“Last week they played with ten men for two hours against Genk in Belgium but still came from behind twice before going through after a penalty shoot-out but their players’ tactical awareness is so high that you wouldn’t have noticed – it didn’t affect them at all.
“On Saturday they were away to Stade-Lausanne-Ouchy and took a point with a last-minute goal because this is a team that doesn’t give up.
READ MORE: Rangers' potential Champions League play-off opponents revealed
“There is a lot of money at stake when it comes to qualifying for the Champions League and Swiss clubs – particularly one as small as Servette – need that money every bit as much as Celtic and Rangers so there is every incentive for Weiler’s players.
“However, at the moment Rangers is a wounded tiger and, as we know, a wounded tiger can be very dangerous.”
At The Herald and Times we know the importance of reaching you where it's convenient, which is why we've engaged top sportswriter James Morgan to bring you an irreverent daily update on what's happening in the world of sport. Be it football, golf, rugby, cricket or something more exotic, James will tread where the best stories take him. To get this bespoke piece sent directly to your email inbox for free every day at 5pm, simply take 5 seconds to type in your email here. It's that simple!
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel