Honestly, the story confirming Lyon’s Moussa Dembele will miss tomorrow with an injury (along with Shaqiri) is actually a bit disappointing.
The ex-Celtic striker’s return to Glasgow at a stadium admittedly where he got so much joy (against a rank-rotten Rangers) was very exciting, in light of seeing how Stevie G’s much superior Gers would handle a striker of his talent compared with the much weaker previous iterations the Frenchman faced.
And we wanted to measure ourselves against a striker of that talent.
Yes, it makes things a little ‘easier’ but you don’t want to face a skeleton version of the side you’re up against, you want them as strong as they can be.
And Dembele’s apparent absence basically removes their best player. It’s like Barca without Messi, Juve without Ronaldo….
Being serious, he’s a top striker and we’d have loved our defenders to lock horns with him, not to mention the hot reception he was excited to get from our fans too.
Many players thrive on that jeering, that hostility, that booing, and it makes them play better, a ‘GIRUY’ to the home fans, especially when there’s the kind of history between the two like we have.
But it’s seemingly not to be, and that’s a bit sad.
End of the day, Rangers can only beat the XI men they face tomorrow. If it doesn’t include their star striker, so be it.