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A number of Rangers supporters are excited by an official club tweet ahead of their Europa League clash with Lyon later this week.

Steven Gerrard’s side suffered the disappointment of not qualifying for this season’s Champions League following a two-legged defeat to Malmo last month.

The Gers must now focus on impressing in Europe’s second-biggest club competition, looking to go one better than last season’s round of 16 finish when they were eliminated by Slavia Prague.

On Thursday night, Gerrard’s men open their Europa League group stage account with the visit of Lyon to Glasgow, which promises to be a fascinating clash.

The Ligue 1 giants may fancy their chances of beating the Gers, but a passionate Ibrox crowd awaits them.

Ahead of the game, the club’s official Twitter account posted a video in preparation for the game, whetting the appetite nicely in advance by posting a clip of the official Europa League intro and music.

Rangers fans hail club tweet ahead of Europa League clash

These Rangers fans gleefully reacted to the club’s Twitter post, showing their excitement ahead of the match, for which some of them are “buzzing”.

“Probably the best side we’ve come up against since 2010, gonna be an exciting one”

Credit: @JamZar2801

“Can’t wait”

Credit: @honeyball69

“Here we go again. We love you Rangers, we do”

Credit: @JambaWATP21

“Inject this theme music into my veins”

Credit: @EveryOtherSatu1

“Tuneeeeee”

Credit: @jasonlamont72

“Cannot wait to be back at Ibrox this week”

Credit: @FrankyRN51

“Buzzing”

Credit: @jamesC1872

In other news, a pundit has made a key claim regarding one Rangers player’s future. Read more here.

Celtic journalist Kieran Devlin has expressed uncertainty about the return date of centre-back Christopher Jullien. 

The lowdown

The Frenchman hasn’t played for the Hoops since their 3-0 win over Dundee United at the end of December 2020. He was forced off in that game after injuring his knee when colliding with the post (via BBC Sport).

Former Scotland boss Alex McLeish has said it will be a ‘massive’ boost for Celtic whenever Jullien, a treble winner in 2019/20, eventually makes his comeback.

Ange Postecoglou said in late October that the 28-year-old would be back after the November international break, but there’s no sign of him as yet.

The latest

In The Athletic’s matchday discussion surrounding Thursday night’s Europa League clash with Bayer Leverkusen, a supporter asked Devlin if there was ‘any indication when/if’ the defender would be back.

The fan ‘thought by now we would have seen something of Jullien in training’ or in a youth team game.

Devlin replied: “It just keeps being pushed back. Briefed multiple times this season that he’d be back within a few weeks and it just hasn’t happened. Not sure what the new estimated date is.”

The verdict

Celtic initially expected to be without Jullien for a period of four months, but we’re now approaching a full calendar year of him being sidelined.

Devlin’s latest claim is worrying because it suggests that there may have been a setback, with the 28-year-old not able to meet the club’s revised timeline.

They were knocked out of the Europa League this week after a 3-2 defeat by Bayer Leverkusen, with Chris Sutton acknowledging that ‘defensively, Celtic have come up well short in Europe’.

It’s tempting to wonder whether they would have had enough to progress from their group with a fully fit Jullien, who was included in their squad for the competition – a sure sign that the Hoops had banked on him returning to action by now.

In other news, this defender is open to signing for Celtic

Tottenham Hotspur are set to hand midfielder Oliver Skipp an improved contract deal, according to The Scottish Sun.

The Lowdown: Developing well

The 21-year-old has been a near ever-present figure in Nuno Espirito Santo’s side this season after breaking into the squad off the back of a successful loan spell in the Championship with Norwich City.

After making his senior debut in a 3-1 Carabao Cup victory over West Ham United in October 2018, Skipp has made 29 appearances for the club and has started four of Spurs’ opening five league games.

Despite only signing a four-year contract extension last summer, the £25,000-per-week midfielder could be set to land another new deal.

The Latest: New deal on the table

According to The Scottish Sun, Tottenham want to reward Skipp for emerging as a first team regular by increasing his wages to between £35,000 and £40,000 per week.

Norwich’s move for a permanent deal never happened due to Spurs’ high regard for the midfielder and the club were willing to listen to offers for Harry Winks due to the 21-year-old’s emergence.

The report claimed that the deal would run until 2025, when Skipp will be 25 years of age.

The Verdict: Skipp on the rise for Spurs

Skipp didn’t start in Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea and the midfield battle was easily won by Thomas Tuchel’s side without his presence.

Labelled ‘perfect’ by Norwich manager Daniel Farke last season, Skipp’s early season performances have had many Spurs fans praising the academy graduate. He has completed 35.8 (89%) of his passes per game and had formed a good partnership with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the club’s opening few games.

With Skipp being a constant figure in the England under-21 squad, his aspirations will be to make the step up to Gareth Southgate’s squad, and he will need to be playing weekly in the Premier League to attract the interest of the England boss.

A new contract and renewed trust handed to him by Spurs should go some way towards helping him in that aim.

In other news, some Tottenham fans have erupted over the official FIFA 22 rankings for their players. Find out more here.

An update has emerged on Wolves target Rafael Leao, regarding AC Milan’s valuation of his services.

What’s the talk?

According to Calcio Mercato, Mino Raiola is trying to find a Premier League club for Milan forward Rafael Leao, with Wolves showing an interest in the attacker.

The report claims Milan are ready to cash in on the Portuguese forward if they receive an offer of around £26m.

Imagine him and Jimenez

Bruno Lage must seal a dream £26m deal for Leao this summer as he could be an excellent addition to the Wolves squad, adding some much-needed firepower. Pedro Neto and Ruben Neves were the club’s top scorers in the Premier League last season with five goals apiece.

This is extremely worrying and suggests that Wolves are in dire need of a signing to come in with the potential to score 10+ goals in the top-flight. Imagine if they were able to go from such a lack of attacking talent to having Raul Jimenez – who has recently returned to action following his horror head injury – and Leao leading the frontline next term.

Jimenez scored an impressive 30 goals in his first two league seasons for Wolves and found the back of the net four times in 10 games prior to his injury in the 2020/21 campaign. This suggests that his return could provide a major boost, but bringing in Leao alongside him could make Lage’s strikeforce a mouth-watering prospect.

Leao’s former coach at Sporting, Tiago Fernandes, once hailed him as a “champion” and compared him to Ronaldo. He said:

“Rafael is a No 9, he’s almost always played as one.

“I’d say that he reminds me of ‘Fenomeno’ Ronaldo for his pace, technique and the quality of his finishing.

“Perhaps he still has to improve in the air, but I want to tell the Rossoneri fans that Leao is a champion who can decide a game by himself.

“He certainly has the talent to play for Real Madrid, Barcelona and all the best clubs in Europe.”

Last season, the Portuguese attacker managed seven goals and provided six assists in just 24 starts, whilst playing for a Milan team chasing Champions League football.

This suggests that he has the quality required to join Wolves and provide goals and assists either playing out wide or through the middle.

He and Jimenez could form a lethal partnership, one that Wolves fans would enjoy watching in the top-flight.

AND in other news, Wolves could land Neves 2.0 with £15m swoop for gem who “nobody can catch”…

Bryce McGain has missed out on a spot in Australia’s attack for the Test in Johannesburg, where Ricky Ponting hopes Peter Siddle can step into the Stuart Clark role

Brydon Coverdale in Johannesburg25-Feb-2009
Ricky Ponting hopes Peter Siddle can perform the role that Stuart Clark did on the last tour of South Africa © Getty Images
Bryce McGain must have walked under a ladder to avoid a black cat on Friday the 13th. What else could explain the terrible misfortune of being struck down by a stomach bug on the eve of the first Test in Johannesburg six months after he looked sure to make his Test debut in India until being sent home for surgery on his armpit?In the lead-up to the series in South Africa, McGain, 36, had been expected to play his first Test at the Wanderers. Instead he was left out of the 12-man squad due to a combination of the rainy weather, seam-friendly conditions and his illness, which first struck during the tour game in Potchefstroom, where he was unable to take the field in the second innings due to food-related gastroenteritis.”It’s been all the fast bowlers, particularly the swing bowlers, that have done very well at this particular venue,” the Australian captain Ricky Ponting said on Wednesday. “With the weather the way it’s been and with the wicket being a bit soft we just felt that the seamers would probably get more assistance than the spinners would, through the course of the game.”As it turns out, Bryce was quite ill up in Potchefstroom and he’s actually gone down again overnight today. He’s not at training today so there’s a lot of things that you take into consideration when you’re picking a team.”McGain and Nathan Hauritz, who was also left out, will come into contention in the second Test at Durban but for now the spin responsibilities are likely to fall largely on the shoulders of Marcus North, who is expected to make his debut as the No. 6 batsman. He collected a career-best 6 for 69 in Potchefstroom on the weekend and Ponting was confident North could handle the role with some assistance from Michael Clarke, whose back soreness will prevent him from bowling long spells.”I think he can do a job for us,” Ponting said of North. “I think he showed that in Potchefstroom. He probably got some wickets that he might not have otherwise got, in the second innings, with the game sort of petering out the way it was.”But I stood at first slip and was very impressed by the way that he bowled and used his changes of pace and control through that game. We know that he can give us some spin overs if required.”However, the bulk of the bowling is expected to be done by Australia’s four-man pace attack. The medium-pacer Andrew McDonald is in the squad along with the fast men Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Doug Bollinger and Ben Hilfenhaus, and one of the five must miss out.Ponting does not have Stuart Clark to call on during the tour as he recovers from elbow surgery. It was on the last trip to South Africa that the then-debutant Clark seamed the ball so dangerously that he was the Player of the Series in Australia’s 3-0 win. Ponting hopes Siddle, the second-most experienced member of a green fast-bowling group, can be the man to step into Clark’s role this time.”Peter Siddle is probably the bowler who is most like Stuey,” Ponting said. “He is not a real swinger of the ball but he gets the seam up and hits the seam all the time. That’s what Stuey did over here so well last time.”However, Ponting expects the pitches to be slightly different from the seaming surfaces that confronted the side in 2005-06. Back then, there was one man who could scare the South Africans from 30 metres away.”They were really worried about Warney last time which is why they had a fair bit of juice in them,” Ponting said. “No Warney this time so I think they might be a bit flatter wickets or a bit better batting wickets anyway.”Not only is there no Shane Warne, there is no replacement. McGain will be watching from the dressing-rooms hoping desperately that the conditions – and his stomach – are more cooperative in Durban.

Gabriel Agbonlahor thinks Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos staying at Glasgow Rangers makes the Gers favourites to win the Premiership again this campaign.

The Lowdown: Kent and Morelos linked with exits

Both Kent and Morelos were linked with exits away from the Rangers during the transfer window.

Leeds United were said to be after the former (Football Insider), while the latter was even reported to have agreed personal terms with Porto (Antena 1).

The Latest: Agbonlahor confident for Gers

Speaking to Football Insider, Agbonlahor believes the Gers are now big favourites to the win the title after keeping the duo. He said:

“They had to keep hold of them.

“If they didn’t hold onto Morelos and Kent then the title probably changes hands from Rangers to Celtic. Keeping them makes Rangers favourites.

“That Rangers team is a good team but when you start to lose one or two of those star players, it’s not a great team. They need those players in there.

“For me, Steven Gerrard will be quite happy with his squad at the moment and will be thankful that nobody went before the window closed.”

The Verdict: Important

Of course, Kent and Morelos are two important players for the Gers. With 30 goals and 28 assists between them last season (Transfermarkt), they were instrumental in the Gers winning the league for the first time in ten years. If Steven Gerrard’s side are to be as successful this time out, they will need them at the top of their game.

There will have been temptation to cash in on the two assets during the summer – after all, they have a combined value of £23.4m – but, for now, they remain with the 55-time Scottish champions. Backing up last term’s success is now clearly the goal.

In other news, Rangers fans reacted to this man’s departure from the club.

Burnley winger Dwight McNeil is probably no longer a massive target for Aston Villa, says Express & Star journalist Luke Hatfield.

McNeil was linked with a move to Villa back in July, with Football Insider reporting that the 21-year-old was being lined up as an alternative to Arsenal’s Emile Smith Rowe.

In the end, though, nothing materialised, with Villa going on to sign Leon Bailey from Bayer Leverkusen instead to strengthen their options on the flank.

As a result, Hatfield believes McNeil is not a priority for the Midlands club, though he refused to rule out a move in the future.

“The investment they’ve put in elsewhere has probably meant that Dwight McNeil is no longer a massive target for them,” the Aston Villa journalist said.

“I think the big one was probably the signing of someone like Leon Bailey. You know, they’ve signed him, they’ve signed [Emiliano] Buendia, players who are obviously in very similar positions to someone like Dwight McNeil. 

“That’s not to say they won’t hold an interest in him come January or next summer.”

It is certainly not hard to see why McNeil would not be a priority for Villa.

As well as Bailey and Buendia, who grabbed his first goal for the club over the weekend, manager Dean Smith also has Anwar El Ghazi and Bertrand Traore to call upon so is hardly lacking in that area of the pitch.

The innings that won Virender Sehwag the Cricinfo Award for the best Test innings of 2008 has earned the highest endorsement from the man himself

Cricinfo staff17-Jan-2009
The one to cherish: Virender Sehwag celebrates his 15th Test century in Galle last year© AFP
The innings that won Virender Sehwag the Cricinfo Award for the best Test innings of 2008 has earned the highest endorsement from the man himself. Talking to Sanjay Manjrekar, a member of Cricinfo’s jury at the awards function yesterday, Sehwag termed his 201 not out against Sri Lanka at Galle as his best-ever Test innings, ahead of both his triple hundreds.”Both my triple centuries in Pakistan and Chennai came on good tracks and I could feel on both occasions that the opposition simply didn¹t have it in them to get me out,” Sehwag said, “but here wickets were falling regularly at the other end and I batted throughout the innings.”Sehwag¹s 201 came in a team score of 329 in an innings where only two other batsmen, Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman, got to double digits. Sehwag added 167 with Gambhir at nearly six runs an over and then watched four wickets go down for 11 runs. Sehwag said in jest that he was thankful to his team-mates for getting out so that he could become thesecond Indian opener to carry his bat through an innings. “After all, I am not Sunil Gavaskar, who could stay at the wicket for long periods.”Sehwag’s knock came in the backdrop of a carnage in the first Test in Colombo where India lost by and innings and 239 runs, surrendering wickets to the two spinners – debutant Ajantha Mendis and the old master Muttiah Muralitharan. At Galle, Sehwag scored 128 off the spinners, including 70 in 77 balls off Mendis.”I could pick the ball from Mendis’ hand,” Sehwag said. “I attacked him and created a little doubt in his mind. I hit the good balls for fours through covers and point. I was able to read his googly and top-spin.”I was never worried about Mendis. In the seven or eight innings I played against Sri Lanka, I got out to him only once.”Sehwag rated Murali, along with Glenn McGrath, as the most difficult bowler he had encountered. Watching him bat at Galle one could have hardly known though, as Sehwag kept on hitting against the turn through the off side. Sehwag had a delightfully candid answer about the way played he him. “I was not able to pick his doosra, so I treated every ball as a doosra and tried to hit it. But I found them to be off-spinners. It did not matter much as I was getting boundaries,” he said.”No matter who is the bowler, I always like to attack,” Sehwag said, “I don’t like to defend and hate to leave deliveries. That is nothing but waste of time.”Sehwag went on to score an aggressive 50 in the second innings and India won the Test by 170 runs.

Paul Reiffel has become the first former Australia Test player to be added to the ICC international panel of umpires

Cricinfo staff24-Oct-2008
Paul Reiffel could soon be officiating in international games © Getty Images
Paul Reiffel has become the first former Australia Test player to be added to the ICC international panel of umpires. Reiffel has been promoted to the group in the smaller role of TV umpire, which means he can now be appointed as the third official for Tests and one-day internationals.The retirement of Peter Parker sparked the move, which has also allowed the former Tasmania and New South Wales player Rod Tucker to jump from TV umpire to on-field official. It means Australia’s entire international panel – which Cricket Australia nominates to the ICC – is made up of former first-class players with Tucker and Reiffel joined by Queensland’s Bruce Oxenford.Reiffel, 42, played 35 Tests and 92 ODIs as a fast bowler during the 1990s before retiring from first-class cricket in 2001-02 and making his interstate umpiring debut in 2004-05. Reiffel has stood in 21 first-class matches and 20 domestic one-day fixtures.He is the second man after Tucker to be promoted to the international panel from Cricket Australia’s project panel, which started in 2002 with the aim of fast-tracking former first-class players into umpiring. That programme will continue with the development of Paul Wilson, the fast bowler who played one Test for Australia.Wilson was added to the project panel in 2006 and will make his interstate debut alongside Reiffel in an FR Cup match at the WACA today. But notably, the three Australian officials who are on the ICC’s elite panel, Daryl Harper, Steve Davis, and the world’s top umpire, Simon Taufel, have no high-level playing experience.Australians on the ICC’s elite panelSteve Davis (SA), Daryl Harper (SA), Simon Taufel (NSW).Cricket Australia’s international panelBruce Oxenford (Qld), Rod Tucker (NSW), Paul Reiffel (TV umpire, Vic).National umpires’ panelJeff Brookes (WA), Andrew Craig (WA), Simon Fry (SA), Ian Lock (WA), Mick Martell (WA), Bruce Oxenford (Qld), Bob Parry (Vic), Paul Reiffel (Vic), Rod Tucker (NSW), John Ward (VIC), Tony Ward (Vic).

Australia’s spin cycle has washed up another surprise with Nathan Hauritz almost certain to play his first Test in four years despite being considered not good enough for New South Wales last week

Brydon Coverdale at the Adelaide Oval27-Nov-2008
Nathan Hauritz’s up and down career could hit another peak in Adelaide on Friday © Getty Images
Australia’s spin cycle has washed up another surprise with Nathan Hauritz almost certain to play his first Test in four years despite being considered not good enough for New South Wales last week. Jason Krejza will be given until the morning of Friday’s second match against New Zealand to prove his fitness after hurting his ankle on Wednesday, but the captain Ricky Ponting is preparing for an attack featuring Hauritz.”Jason is still going to remain our No. 1 choice of spinner with 12 wickets on debut and obviously I understand how shattered he is at the moment,” Ponting said. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed and hope he comes up, but at the moment we think that it’s likely that Hauritz will play ahead of him.”It is fair to say Hauritz was surprised by the late call-up. He was left out of New South Wales’ Sheffield Shield side last week and had already been told he was the likely twelfth man for their four-day game against Tasmania starting next Tuesday.But the conveyor-belt carrying Australian spinners has been moving so rapidly that no first-class slow bowler, even those on the fringes of their state sides, can write off the possibility of an international outing. If he plays, Hauritz will be the sixth specialist used by Australia in Tests this year.Ponting conceded that Hauritz’s figures – he has six Sheffield Shield wickets at 40.66 this season – “don’t look that flash” but said he was the best option available. His only previous Test appearance came in Mumbai in 2004 and he has found it hard to find regular state action, let alone international call-ups, since then.But in a match where New Zealand are considering two specialist spinners, Australia were adamant they needed at least one. After batsmen from both sides had trouble applying themselves on the green-tinged Gabba pitch last week, where Australia wrapped up a comfortable win, the bowlers know their task will be infinitely tougher on the flat Adelaide surface.Aside from Jamie How’s 170 in the tour match in Sydney, the New Zealand top order has struggled significantly. However, the captain Daniel Vettori said they would not be aiming to belt their way back into form by focusing on Hauritz, even though he failed to pick up a wicket for New South Wales in the warm-up game.”I don’t think you target him. We know that he’s going to have a big role to play because it’s the Adelaide Oval so spin bowlers do have a lot of work,” Vettori said. “We’ve just got to pretty much do what we did in our first game in New South Wales … sit on him, get a feel for him, because a lot of our guys have only faced him once before.”Vettori said his own workload would “increase exponentially” on an Adelaide pitch not expected to offer the seamers much assistance. The offspinner Jeetan Patel is a chance to play and Vettori is also keen to make use of the opening batsman Aaron Redmond, whose legspin has brought him 96 first-class wickets.To squeeze Patel into the line-up New Zealand would need to make a tough call to drop one of their fast men: Iain O’Brien, Tim Southee or Chris Martin. The bowlers face a nervous wait until the morning of the match, unlike Australia’s Stuart Clark, who has been assured he will play ahead of Peter Siddle.Earlier this year Clark was one of the first selected in Australia’s side but he has been under increased pressure and struggled on the tour of India, where he collected two wickets and was dropped for the fourth Test. Clark bounced back to be one of Australia’s best at the Gabba with six wickets, but his record at Adelaide is not so strong: in his two Tests here he has four victims at 56.50.”If Stuart Clark is bowling at his best it doesn’t really matter what the surface is,” Ponting said. “I’m sure he’d like to bowl at the Gabba every week, most bowlers would.”He’s not going to be the guy that’s going to run in and blast guys out. He’s going to be the guy that’s going to have to work hard and chip away and bowl lots of good overs and try and put pressure on guys in different ways. He’s certainly got a role to play in our team and with the confidence behind him from last week I’m sure he can do that role on any surface.”