Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Champions League 2009-10 season: Rangers must beat Stuttgart for fans


GLASGOW: Steven Davis says Rangers owe their fans a performance against Stuttgart at Ibrox today (early tomorrow in Malaysia) after their two previous Champions League Group G home games ended in misery.

The Old Firm side have suffered two heavy losses at Ibrox already this season with both Romania minnows Unirea Urziceni and Sevilla sending them crashing to 4-1 defeats.

Rangers sit bottom of Group G with two points but are just one behind Stuttgart and three behind Unirea as they bid to qualify for the last 16 of the competition.

The match against the Bundesliga cracks is a must win game for Rangers if they are to have any chance of finishing second behind runaway group leaders Sevilla.

And Northern Irish midfielder Davis is desperate to keep their campaign alive after losing a last-gasp goal in the 1-1 draw with Unirea last time out.

"That has made us more determined to win on Tuesday (today)," Davis said.



WALTER SMITH
"The performance was great and to concede so late was harsh. We need to see games through at this level.

"We owe it to the supporters, to the management and ourselves to get a performance and result against Stuttgart."

Stuttgart have had a poor start to their season, sitting just one point above the relegation zone in the Bundesliga.

But Rangers gaffer Walter Smith says he won't be fooled by the German side's stuttering form after he watched them recover from a similar situation last year.

Rangers picked up a valuable point against Markus Babbel's side in their first group match and both sides are still in with a chance of qualifying.

But despite their poor form Stuttgart managed a draw at Sevilla a fortnight ago and Smith expects them to provide another huge test for his side.

Smith said: "Stuttgart had a bad start to last season which led to a change in coach. But then they went on a bit of a run and fought back.

"They were in with a shout of the title but finished third after losing their final game to Bayern.

"Stuttgart are a good side and their form will eventually settle down -- hopefully not by Tuesday (today)". -- AFP

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