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Rangers: Florian Kamberi will start against Braga, says Steven Gerrard
Florian Kamberi is set to lead the line for Rangers in Wednesday’s Europa League clash away to Braga, with The Scottish Sun claiming that Steven Gerrard has given his backing to the 24-year-old.
The ‘Gers will be without the services of their two top scorers this season for the game in Portugal, with Alfredo Morelos suspended and Jermain Defoe injured, so Gerrard has indicated that he plans to play Kamberi from the start after he came off the bench to score against St Johnstone at the weekend.
The manager said: “I thought Flo was absolutely outstanding. On that performance, he plays, for sure. You can’t ignore that. It was some impact.” [via The Scottish Sun]
Gerrard’s intention to start with Kamberi comes as no great surprise, given the absences of Morelos and Defoe as well as the 24-year-old coming into the Braga game on a high from scoring on Sunday. The on-loan striker has yet to start a game since joining Rangers last month but has made frequent substitute appearances and won praise from a number of the club’s supporters for his performance at St Johnstone at the weekend.
With the manager stating that Kamberi will lead the line, that could well mean another game where Greg Stewart has to make do with a place on the bench. The 29-year-old had been the only centre-forward alternative to Morelos and Defoe prior to Kamberi’s loan arrival in January and has started just five games all season, although he has often been deployed from the bench in recent weeks, albeit for no more than 20 minutes at a time (as per TransferMarkt).
Gerrard’s declaration of intent to start with Kamberi does not bode particularly well for Stewart, who is set to play backup to a striker who only came to the club in the last month and isn’t even Rangers’ player. Indeed, even with Morelos scoring just once in eight games so far in 2020, the manager has only given substitute appearances to Stewart.
It also shows how light they are in attack without Morelos and Defoe that their only centre-forward options for Wednesday are a player who has never started a game for the ‘Gers and one who has managed only three goals and five starts all season.
Rangers fans, what do you think of Gerrard’s declaration that Kamberi will start against Braga? Where does that leave Stewart in the Ibrox pecking order? Comment below with your views!
