Ross to man up on trip
Pedro Caixinha is ready to pull Ross McCrorie out of the Scotland Under- 21 squad to play in Rangers’ friendly against Benfica.
The Ibrox gaffer is taking his team to Canada on October 6 to feature in the Eusebio Cup match.
Defender McCrorie – who impressed on his debut at Partick to earn an Old Firm start yesterday – is likely to be named in the U21 squad for Euro qualifiers against England and Latvia.
But Caixinha believes testing himself against Benfica’s top strikers will be more beneficial for the 19-year- old.
He said: “We don’t have too many players going away with their national sides, other than Bruno Alves and Lee Hodson.
“But we have a couple of players like Ross and Ryan Hardie who should be with the Scotland U21s. But maybe we can take Ross with us rather than leave him with the U21s.
“Playing against Benfica will help him. I want to test him in that situation, especially if Bruno is away with Portugal.
“It will be more beneficial for Ross because Benfica will be a man’s game.
“When a young player is ready to play a man’s game you’d prefer him to play at that level.
“If he’s playing against the Brazilian striker Jonas for instance, he’ll learn more than playing against Latvia.
“We’ll look at the situation and maybe ag ree on something with Scotland.”
Caixinha is convinced the mid-season Canada trip will foster team spirit among his Rangers squad – as well as giving them a stiff Euro test.
He said: “It’s important to be present in these sort of games. It’s a chance to play against a top team.
“Our trip to England was a key moment for the team because they spent four days together.
“It was good for the gelling of the team. Hopefully we can do the same in Canada.”