Caixinha calls on Rangers to defy the odds

Ruthless Caixinha is hell-bent on making Ibrox men meet his exacting standards

PEDRO CAIXINHA has challenged his Rangers players to be the ones who defy huge Europa League odds this season by going all the way to the group stage. The Ibrox club will end a six-year absence from continental competition when they face Progres Niederkorn in tonight’s sold-out first qualifying round first leg. While defeat to the team from Luxembourg would represent a major shock, Rangers will have to overcome far tougher opposition in three subsequent ties to achieve their goal. They are among 100 clubs involved at the very start of the competition, with recent precedent suggesting 98 or 99 of those will likely fall before the groups are drawn. Caixinha, however, draws inspiration from the handful of

AFTER six years of waiting for a return to the European arena, the identity of the first opponent proved all but irrelevant. Rangers fans approached ticket sales with a fervour more readily associated with the regal arrival of Real Madrid.

Being paired with a team who finished 21 points off the pace in Luxembourg last season was never likely to dampen enthusiasm.

In truth, Progres Niederkorn will be of interest only to the small band of travelling directors and their guests.

For the rest of a sold-out Ibrox crowd, it is about celebrating a landmark in the rebuilding of their club. And gaining a first look at how the manager has restructured their team.

Pedro Caixinha claimed as many as four of his eight summer signings could start the Europa League first qualifying round, first leg. Ryan Jack, Fabio Cardoso and Dalcio — the three who have trained longest — should all feature. Daniel Candeias is also in contention after yesterday receiving international clearance.

Yet the ruthless way in which Caixinha has gone about the much-needed squad surgery will also be underlined by those who are absent. Joe Garner has been sold to Ipswich Town. Andy Halliday has completed a one-year loan move to Azerbaijani club Gabala. The UEFA squad list had no place for Joe Dodoo, Harry Forrester, Rob Kiernan, Michael O’Halloran or Matt Crooks.

And then there is Barrie McKay. As Sportsmail revealed earlier this week, the winger has been ordered to train with the Under-20s squad at Auchenhowie.

His future seems shrouded in ever more doubt. And Caixinha did nothing to dispel that impression yesterday.

While confirming McKay would have no part to play in this tie, the Portuguese declined to offer any specific insights into why he had been demoted.

Instead, he responded with a more general warning about the ‘standards’ expected in his mission to restore Rangers’ fortunes.

Even so, it doesn’t require a leap of faith to think that McKay, entering the final 12 months of his contract, has somehow failed to live up to expectations. The message from Caixinha is that everyone must adhere to his demands.

‘I think everyone needs to understand that Rangers have a profile and standard,’ he said, when asked whether McKay’s time at the club could be nearing its end.

‘If you have the standards to keep, or even to raise those standards and defend those standards, you’ll be receiving one chance to stay on. If not, life goes on.

‘I’m not talking about names. I’m talking about standards from this club and standards regarding to my choices. That’s what I’m talking about.

‘I’m not talking about any specific players. I’m talking to all the players, including the new ones that are coming. They need to understand that things are going in this direction.’

Pressed on whether McKay could be back in his plans for the next round, Caixinha didn’t exactly offer reassurance.

‘I’m just focused now on this first leg,’ he said. ‘After that the second leg, and following the plan that we have regarding the players who are going to stay with us and the players who need to leave the club.’

Time will tell whether McKay is actually placed in the latter category before August 31.

By the close of the summer window, Caixinha also hopes to have added another ‘couple’ of players. Graham Dorrans and Jamie Walker remain the immediate targets.

Of those already signed, Bruno Alves’ participation in the Confederations Cup with Portugal means his debut will have to wait.

Caixinha has also added Alfredo Morelos, Carlos Pena and Eduardo Herrera but admitted those more recent arrivals could require additional fine-tuning before being pressed into competitive action.

‘All of the guys that are on the list are able to play,’ said Caixinha. ‘We have new players for the game and maybe four of them will be starting, with two or three more on the bench.

‘But it will have to be at different moments.

‘At the moment, we don’t have a normal team regarding to the rhythms that they have on the training pitch or the minutes that they have received in the preparation matches. ‘Not everyone is at the same level at the moment, but that’s what we are trying to do in our organisation and our plan. We understand the guys that are ready and, for sure, they are going to be there. ‘It’s been a massive task that this club has done in this transfer window and there are still two months to go. ‘But knowing we were starting so early, we did a massive job. We still have some positions to fill regarding to the plan, but we think we can do it with two months to finish it. ‘In such a short period of time, I don’t think I’ve had to do as much before. ‘But when you have the targets and you have been working on it since we arrived here, as long as we had identified the needs, it was easier to start the process. The names only came out in the window, but the work which was done in the background started long before that.’

A positive first impression this evening would carry obvious value. Caixinha admitted the capacity crowd at Ibrox further underlined the responsibility he has to make genuine progress this season.

‘It is about sharing that experience and that feeling with the fans,’ he added.

‘Almost three days before the match the whole stadium was completely sold out, so it’s something where you really need to represent a unique club where those sort of things happen.

‘Being away from this competition for six years is too long for such a massive club.

‘And, of course, we want to enjoy the moment, we want to enjoy the moment with our fans, we want to deliver a good performance, we want to deliver a good result and we want to have a good start, of course, in this new season.’