Tav plotting his road to knockouts
BY GAVIN BERRY JAMES TAVERNIER insists Rangers can compete with the best in Europe as he targets the points on the road that will help them reach the knockout stage.
After a home win over Feyenoord in the Group G opener the skipper wants maximum points from the Ibrox Europa League ties.
But Tavernier knows they need to supplement that by taking something from their away trips – starting tomorrow against Young Boys in Bern.
The Swiss champions are undefeated in almost a year at the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf.
Steven Gerrard and his squad will fly out this morning and Tavernier said: “Young Boys were in the Champions League last season but if we can perform like we can we will go toe to toe with them.
“We need to try to get maximum points at home to give us any chance and when we go away we need to pick up what we can.
“We are not here to make up the numbers, we have come into the competition wanting to go as far as we can. We wanted to draw a tough group, which we got.
“We fully back ourselves in every game we play and we were right at it against Feyenoord.
“We know Young Boys are a good team and it is going to be difficult.
“There are no away fans travelling so it is going to be a tough game.
“Away games are always different but we’ll go there confident. We identified from last season that we had to be consistent in our games this season if we were going to be successful.
“It was the home matches that cost us in the Europa League last season.
“We have a great group of players and if we stick to our plans I would I back our boys to go toe to toe with the big clubs.”