Scottish giants Rangers welcome German outfit Hamburger SV to Ibrox for a pre-season friendly encounter on Saturday afternoon.
The two teams enter this contest seeking to return to winning ways after losing their most recent warm-up matches.
Match preview
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Following a trophyless 2022-23 campaign and having to watch their bitter rivals Celtic win the domestic treble, Rangers have since registered one win, one draw and one defeat in their opening three pre-season matches.
A goalless draw with Livingston in their first friendly fixture was followed by a 2-0 victory in Germany against Hallescher, but they came up short on home soil against Newcastle United on Tuesday as they lost 2-1 in Allan McGregor's testimonial.
A first-half strike from Miguel Almiron was cancelled out by summer signing Sam Lammers just after the hour mark, but the Magpies had the last laugh as a looping header from substitute Harrison Ashby sealed the victory for the visitors three minutes from time.
Michael Beale's side were second best for large spells against their Premier League opponents, but the Gers boss – who is preparing for his first full season in charge after replacing Giovanni van Bronckhorst last November – will not be too concerned at this early stage, with three more friendlies against Hamburger, Olympiacos and Hoffenheim still to come to build positive momentum ahead of the new campaign.
Like Rangers, Hamburger have also won one, drawn one and lost one of their first three pre-season games this summer, a month on from losing the Bundesliga relegation playoff to Stuttgart.
A 3-2 victory over German minnows Verden 04 was followed by an eventful 3-3 draw with Viktoria Plzen, but they head to Glasgow after suffering a disappointing 4-1 loss to Red Bull Salzburg last weekend.
Die Rothosen found themselves three goals down inside the opening 23 minutes against Salzburg before new recruit Immanuel Pherai pulled one back on the half-hour mark. The visitors restored their three-goal cushion 10 minutes into the second half, though, courtesy of a strike from Nene Dorgeles.
Nevertheless, the result is of little importance to head coach Tim Walter, who is instead focused on the "overall construction" of his side as they endeavour to get themselves in the best possible shape to start their sixth successive season in the German second tier.
Hamburger are preparing for their first encounter with Rangers since November 2011 when they secured a 2-1 friendly victory on home soil courtesy of goals from Ivo Ilicevic and Son Heung-min, the latter of whom netted an 81st-minute winner.
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Team News
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While Allan McGregor bid farewell to Rangers on Tuesday after making over 500 appearances for the club, quintet Sammers, Jack Butland, Kieran Dowell, Abdallah Sima and Leon Balogun all made their home debut for the Gers, the latter of whom in fact made his second debut after re-joining the club from QPR last week.
Fellow new recruits Cyriel Dessers and Dujon Sterling were not involved against Newcastle, but they could be in a position to feature in some capacity this weekend.
The likes of Ben Davies, Nicolas Raskin, Ianis Hagi, Rabbi Matondo and Fashion Sakala will all be pushing to start after beginning as substitutes in midweek, while it remains to be seen whether Scott Wright and Glen Kamara will feature as both players are the subject of enquiries from other clubs.
As for Hamburger, summer signings Pherai, Levin Oztunali, Guilherme Ramos, Dennis Hadzikadunic and Ignace Van der Brempt will all be hoping to get minutes under their belt for their new club, the latter two have arrived on loan from Rostov and Salzburg respectively.
Robert Glatzel scored 19 goals in all competitions for Die Rothosen last season and he could be supported in attack by wingers Ransford-Yeboah Konigsdorffer and Bakery Jatta.
Rangers possible starting lineup:
Butland; Tavernier, Balogun, Davies, Yilmaz; Raskin, Lundstram, Dowell; Hagi, Sammers, Sakala
Hamburger SV possible starting lineup:
Fernandes; Van der Brempt, Ramos, Hadzikadunic, Muheim; Oztunali, Reis, Pherai; Jatta, Glatzel, Konigsdorffer
We say: Rangers 2-1 Hamburger SV
Both Rangers and Hamburger will be keen to bounce back from defeat last time out and put together a positive run of form ahead of the new season beginning in just a few weeks' time.
The two teams are expected to select a number of first-team players on Saturday, but we believe that the Gers will edge this contest in front of their home supporters.
No Data Analysis info
Oliver Thomas
