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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Gavin Berry

Rangers get Motherwell fixture switch go ahead as game moved to help Europa League final quest

Rangers have succeeded in having this Sunday’s clash with Motherwell brought forward to help them prepare for their Europa League semi-final against RB Leipzig.

The Ibrox club had requested a fixture switch after reaching the last four of UEFA’s second tier competition.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst was due to take his Light Blues side to Lanarkshire for a lunchtime clash this Sunday but the game will now be played on Saturday with a noon kick-off.

Rangers are due to travel to Germany for the first leg of their Europa League showdown the following Thursday.

(SNS Group)

But the SPFL revealed at the weekend they were in talks with the Fir Park club, Police Scotland and Sky Sports, who were due to screen the match live, over a change. The game will still be televised on Sky.

The Police were the sticking point but have now acquiesced to the switch after all parties agreed to help Rangers in their bid to reach the final in Seville on May 18.

Well chief executive Alan Burrows said: "Based on significant feedback over the years, we believe most of our fans would rather watch a match on a Saturday rather than a Sunday, and with our only other home fixture after the split being a Wednesday night, that was at the forefront of our thinking.

"In addition, the club believe it sensible to support all Scottish clubs playing in European matches.

"That being said, we would like to sincerely apologise for the length of time taken to make this call and the subsequent lack of notice of the change, which has been largely out with our control. We were initially approached on Good Friday, but we were only given confirmation of the change at 3:10pm today (Tuesday 19th)."

Rangers face Celtic before the second leg against the Bundesliga outfit although it’s understood no request was made to change that.

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