Skip to main content

Carlos Carvalhal puts Rangers on notice as Braga boss targets Europa League knockout punch

The Portuguese side lead 1-0 from the first leg and want to get the job done early at Ibrox.

(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Carlos Carvalhal has warned Rangers that Braga are ready to land an early knockout punch at Ibrox.

The Portuguese side will head to Glasgow with a slender Europa League quarter-final advantage after winning the first leg 1-0 last week.

Abel Ruiz struck in the first-half for Carvalhal's men and they followed up that hard-earned win by beating Vizela with ten men in the Primeira Liga on Sunday.

And their manager insists his team have no intention of sitting on their lead come Thursday night as Giovanni Van Bronckhorst 's side look to turn the tie around.

He said: "It's important we start well at Ibrox.

Article continues below
READ MORE: Where every Rangers player stands as Gio van Bronckhorst faces major Ibrox squad rebuildREAD MORE: Rangers deserve Europa League best wishes so board must ask themselves why they're in short supply - Keith Jackson

"The match at Rangers will be very different from playing at Vizela and it's important we have an extra day of recovery from what we had ahead of the first leg, which will make all the difference.

"We know it will be a very complicated game and we will give Rangers a lot of respect. But we are going to Scotland to win.

"That was our 19th clean sheet of the season and last season we only managed 15, so we have significantly improved. However, we are three points worse off than last season and we want to do better than that.

Article continues below

"We have invested in youth this season after all the player sales and I believe we are better than last year."

Follow Daily Record:


BragaScottish PremiershipRangers FCEuropa League
reach logo

At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the "Do Not Sell or Share my Data" button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.