Ianis Hagi returned to Rangers after spending last season on loan at Deportivo Alavés. Philippe Clement hasn’t relied upon him this season as the manager has limited him to one appearance so far.
That came in Rangers’ league win over St. Johnstone earlier this month. Philippe Clement hasn’t included the 26-year-old in the Europa League squad, which makes him ineligible to feature against FCSB later today.
Ahead of the European clash at Ibrox, Romania’s Digi Sport interviewed FCSB centre-back Mihai Popescu. He hasn’t played with or come up against the Rangers player so far but is well aware of his qualities.
The 31-year-old defender isn’t pleased with the Romania international’s difficult situation at Rangers. He believes Hagi’s omission from the Europa League squad gives FCSB an advantage against the Scottish club.
“I’m sorry Ianis is not on the list. I think he would have helped them, he’s a good player, known here, loved. I know because I’ve heard so many nice things about him playing here. It’s good for us that he’s not playing, he’s a player who makes the difference,” he said.
The Romanian side have won their first two European fixtures this season. They are sixth in the table, three points ahead of 17th placed Rangers. The FCSB player is aware the tie at Ibrox will be made more challenging because of the Rangers supporters.
“We have a difficult game ahead of us at this stadium [Ibrox] which will be full. We came here with confidence, we need to get a positive result. We have a good mentality, the last few results in our favour and we hope to keep ourselves on the same line,” Popescu explained.
“I only played here once [when he was playing for Hearts]. Unfortunately, I lost, I hope not to repeat the same performance. They will come aggressively, because they will play in front of their own supporters. We are ready for any pressing and we will definitely come out well.”
“We’ve been watching them, we know what to do. We know what they will do. We will definitely put in a good performance, and we will be happy at the end.”
