Rangers vs Fenerbahce: Barry Ferguson tells players to stop being 'too nice' as they aim for Europa League progression
Barry Ferguson's side have a 3-1 lead from the first leg in Istanbul; second leg to take place at Ibrox on Thursday; the winners will face Roma or Athletic Bilbao in the quarter-finals; watch Celtic vs Rangers on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, from 11.30am
Thursday 13 March 2025 18:59, UK
Rangers head coach Barry Ferguson has told his players they "can't be nice all the time" if they want to beat Fenerbahce and progress in the Europa League.
They have a 3-1 lead from last week's game in Istanbul, with the winners set to face Roma or Athletic Bilbao in the quarter-finals of the competition.
But after three consecutive defeats at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup and Premiership, Ferguson is urging his players to toughen up to get the crowd behind them on Thursday night.
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"Sometimes we are too nice, I have told my players we can't be nice all the time," he said. "If you get this place rocking, it's a proper place to play football and I've told the guys that.
"When you go out with a certain attitude to play the game, there's no better place to play football.
"We'll go on and we'll brace the challenge tomorrow (Thursday) night because it's going to be a different game in my opinion.
"We need to stand tall and we need to go head to head with Fenerbahce because they'll come and they'll go for us."
The Premiership title race is all but over with Rangers sitting 16 points behind leaders Celtic. With no hope of domestic silverware, the Europa League is Rangers' last chance to salvage something from a disappointing campaign.
Ferguson, though, is expecting Jose Mourinho's side to put up a real fight after they fell to their first defeat in 18 games in the first leg.
"Mourinho has won 26 trophies in a number of countries. This is a real challenge for me but I'm not scared of a challenge," the former Rangers captain added.
"He would have been hurting last week. You will see a different Fenerbahce here. We have worked the last three days on different scenarios within the game. I have every faith in my group of players.
"We've got to have a different mindset. It has been an issue at times throughout the season. That's something that I'm tasked with trying to change and I'm working ever so hard to do it and so are the boys as well.
"They're taking everything that we're giving them on board."
