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Aris Limassol boss insists Rangers Europa League double is on as Cypriot shock troops eye knock outs

Aleksey Shpilevsky has backed his boys to win at Ibrox after victory over the Light Blues in Cyprus last month.

Aleksey Shpilevsky
Aleksey Shpilevsky

Aris Limassol boss Aleksey Shpilevsky is adamant his side CAN do the double over Rangers and snatch a spot in the Europa League knock-out stage.

Rangers are in a strong position to qualify after their 2-1 victory against Czech champions Sparta Prague at Ibrox on Thursday night. Philippe Clement's men are now three points clear of Sparta and the Cypriots, who were crushed 4-1 in Spain by Real Betis. However, Aris' Belarusian boss Shpilevsky is confident his team can inflict another defeat on the Light Blues, who lost the last meeting between the two during Steven Davis' interim spell in charge last month.


He said: "First of all I remain very proud of my players and the whole of Cyprus should be too. The result is not fair to us after we played an excellent game. We had two goals disallowed and I'm not sure about the penalty against us. We created a lot of problems for a great team playing in the second best league in the world. I am proud of my team.


READ MORE: Philippe Clement is Rangers problem solver as solutions to Beale's self inflicted issues has Ibrox reunitedREAD MORE: Rangers keep £70million Champions League double dunt dream alive with savage Czech coefficient blow

"Now we go to Glasgow and we know we could possibly still qualify with two wins in the last two matches. We have already defeated Rangers and I believe this group of players could do it again. These players have been great for me."

And Aris' Brazilian keeper Vana took responsibility for the defeat He said: "There were some goals I should have done better with.

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"But we have to be honest and say it was a great effort against such a high quality game and we will now try and win at Rangers in the next game."

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Europa LeagueSteven DavisRangers FCPhilippe ClementSparta Prague
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