Rangers will host Fenerbahçe in the Europa League on Thursday before facing Celtic at the weekend.
Barry Ferguson’s side have an advantage against the Turkish club after they secured a 3-1 win in the first leg in Istanbul. They are looking to secure results over both Fenerbahçe and Celtic in the next few days.
Rangers assistant manager Issame Charaï has been speaking to Gazet van Antwerpen on several topics, including the upcoming matches against Fenerbahçe and Celtic.
The Belgian arrived at Ibrox in January, to become Philippe Clement’s assistant, and has maintained his role even after his compatriot’s exit in February. Barry Ferguson will be the interim manager until the end of this season.
Rangers lost only two of their group stage fixtures under Clement and Charaï is optimistic of extending their good run in the Europa League under Ferguson. The assistant manager indicates the Scottish club have to rely mainly on young talents as they don’t have the same financial resources as Celtic.
“It will be a crazy week with hopefully two victories. Barry wants to continue Philippe’s work in the Europa League. That already worked out well last Thursday. The atmosphere in Istanbul was incredible, and Ibrox will be no different when it is packed with 52,000 fans,” he said.
“Rangers don’t have the same financial resources as Celtic, but they do have a lot of young talent who can pay off in the long term. It is an immense club with a very large fan base. I notice the greatness of the club in everything. There is a lot of pressure. I like that, that is how I perform best. Every match has to be won.
“Very different from, say, OH Leuven, where losing once is not a disaster. Here everyone is constantly pushed to the limit to win everything. I wanted to work in an environment like that.”
Since the 2019/20 season, Celtic have spent less than €20m on signings only on one occasion. In the same period, Rangers haven’t invested more than €17m to improve their squad.
On Ferguson’s management, Charaï explained: “He has earned his stripes as a player and gets a lot of respect here. He also has confidence in me. He involves the assistants in everything and lets me do a lot.
“Barry is really the gaffer, the manager. He is there on the pitch, but the assistants give the training. Other than that, there is not really a hierarchy among the assistants.”
