Rangers head coach Barry Ferguson has told his players they “can’t be nice all the time” if they want to beat Fenerbahce and progress in the Europa League.
They have a 3-1 lead from last week’s game in Istanbul, with the winners set to face Roma or Athletic Bilbao in the quarter-finals of the competition.
But after back-to-back defeats at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup and Premiership, Ferguson is urging his players to toughen up to get the crowd behind them on Thursday night.
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Rangers head coach Barry Ferguson believes, with the Ibrox crowd behind them, they can get past Fenerbahce and progress to the Europa League quarter-finals
“Sometimes we are too nice, I have told my players we can’t be nice all the time,” he said. “If you get this place rocking, it’s a proper place to play football and I’ve told the guys that.
“When you go out with a certain attitude to play the game, there’s no better place to play football.
“We’ll go on and we’ll brace the challenge tomorrow (Thursday) night because it’s going to be a different game in my opinion.
“We need to stand tall and we need to go head to head with Fenerbahce because they’ll come and they’ll go for us.”
Cyriel Dessers starred for Rangers in Istanbul last week
The Premiership title race is all but over with Rangers sitting 16 points behind leaders Celtic. With no hope of domestic silverware, the Europa League is Rangers’ last chance to salvage something from a disappointing campaign.
Ferguson, though, is expecting Jose Mourinho’s side to put up a real fight after they fell to their first defeat in 18 games in the first leg.
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Leon Balogun believes the home crowd at Ibrox could be key in helping Rangers progress in the Europa League, with the defender ready for Jose Mourinho’s ‘tricks’
“Mourinho has won 26 trophies in a number of countries. This is a real challenge for me but I’m not scared of a challenge,” the former Rangers midfielder added.
“He would have been hurting last week. You will see a different Fenerbahce here. We have worked the last three days on different scenarios within the game. I have every faith in my group of players.
“We’ve got to have a different mindset. It has been an issue at times throughout the season. That’s something that I’m tasked with trying to change and I’m working ever so hard to do it and so are the boys as well.
“They’re taking everything that we’re giving them on board.”
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