Man United legend makes Rangers fans admission ahead of Old Trafford tie

Nicky Butt believes the Rangers fans will play a huge factor when Philippe Clement’s side travel to Manchester United in the Europa League.

Clement will need to overcome his disappointment of suffering a Champions League exit at the hands of Dynamo Kyiv and turn his attention to potential success in Europe’s second-tier competition.

Butt, who played for Man United from 1992-2004, told the Daily Record [9 September] that he expects a fiery encounter at Old Trafford on 23 January with the travelling fans loud in support.

He said: “You can say about the leagues and stuff, but it’s still two British teams going against each other. Those games are always competitive.

“Everyone will look at United coming from the stronger league, having a bigger budget. But when you play Celtic or Rangers you always know it’s going to be a battle. It’s a great tie.

“Rangers will bring a lot of fans down to Old Trafford, the crowds they bring with them are always very passionate and noisy and give them great backing. With the format of the Europa League now, United don’t have to go up there, so having it at Old Trafford is obviously a good thing.

”I played away to Rangers before in the Champions League. We won both games that season, but each of them was difficult. It’s definitely a game to look forward to, it’ll be interesting.”

Rangers need to be successful in Europe this season

The Light Blues would have been in financial paradise had they qualified for the Champions League proper [Scottish Daily Mail], but it wasn’t to be, and they cannot afford to squander another opportunity for European success.

Rangers have had success in the Europa League before, as Giovanni van Bronckhorst led his side to the final of the competition in the 2021/22 season and suffered an agonising penalty shootout loss to Eintracht Frankfurt in the final.

After the 3-0 loss to Celtic in the first Old Firm derby of the season, challenging for the Scottish Premiership title seems nearly all but lost and Clement will want European success instead, if needed this year.

While the Gers are unlikely to replicate the efforts of the 2021/22 side, there are still financial gains to be had by reaching the latter stages of the competition, Clement needs to do everything in his power to ensure his side is competitive in the Europa League.

Ties between Rangers and Man United are well-known to be fiery encounters and the match in January will be no different. This is not the same United side the Gers faced in years gone by and is the perfect opportunity for Clement to establish his credentials at Ibrox.

In other Rangers news, James Tavernier’s time at the Gers is up after the latest transfer development at Ibrox.

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