Rangers FC travel to Spain in order to play their first game of the Europa League group stages against Villarreal.
And the manager will have some serious headaches selecting his first eleven for the game given that he has a number of absentees for Thursday’s clash.
While some players are out with injuries others are ineligible for the Villarreal game.
The first big absentee for the Light Blues will surely be striker Alfredo Morelos who will miss the game because of a red card.
At first, it was believed that the red card and yellow card penalties would be omitted after the qualifiers but now it has been confirmed that a red card picked up due to two yellow cards will not be omitted and the punishment will stand.
Jon Flanagan is another player will be unavailable for the Villarreal game due to the same reason why Alfredo Morelos is not taking that plane to Spain.
While Steven Gerrard should not be too worried about the absence of Flanagan but the fact that Morelos will not be playing will be a huge cause of concern for the manager as well as the fans.
Without the Colombian, Kyle Lafferty will have to bear the burden of scoring goals away from home.
Another major miss for Thursday’s game might be Ryan Jack who is currently recovering from a calf injury and there’s no guarantee whether he will be fit to travel with the squad.
As of now, there is no major update from Rangers about Ryan Jack’s condition so we will have to see whether or not Ryan Jack travels with the team.
Summer signing Gareth McAuley like Ryan Jack is also suffering from calf problems and will not be making the trip to Spain.
Steven Gerrard certainly has no shortages of players who can up fill up the void in the first eleven but there’s no denying that the absence of Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Jack will make winning against Villarreal a pretty uphill task.
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