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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Mark Walker

Rangers 'set' to face European giants in Ibrox pre-season friendly

Rangers will reportedly face Greek giants Olympiacos in a pre-season friendly at Ibrox.

Michael Beale's side already have matches against Newcastle, Hamburg and Hoffenheim lined up for July.

Newcastle head to Ibrox on July 18 for Allan McGregor's testimonial. Rangers will then play German side Hamburg at Ibrox on July 22.

And Beale's side will head to Germany themselves the following week to play Hoffenheim.

Now, it appears Rangers will host Olympiacos in a friendly tie.

Reports in Greece indicate that Rangers have invited Olympiacos to Ibrox

Olympiacos, managed by former Espanyol and Osasuna boss Diego Martínez, finished third in the Greek Super League this season, five points behind winners Panathinaikos.

They haven't played in Scotland since defeating Celtic 3-1 on aggregate in the first round of the 1974 European Cup.

Previously discussing pre-season and the importance of having new players in the squad for the fixtures, Beale said: "I think they’ve heard that every day for the past weeks.

"I think I’ve driven them mad a little bit since I’ve been the main person in control of recruitment and players coming on.

"A lot of the conversations have happened and I’ve been away meeting players in between games and training.

"We want players in before pre-season but we might have to be patient on one or two but we are aiming to get most of our work done quickly.

"We’re probably doing more work that you’d like to be doing, you’d like to add one or two but we are doing more than that."

He added: "We will have a really strong pre-season, implement some new things and we will come out of it a much stronger team.

"Mentally, the team will be in a much better place than the team I inherited because it was different to the team I left the year before."

Rangers confirmed pre-season fixtures

Rangers vs Newcastle - Tuesday, July 18

Rangers vs Hamburg - Saturday, July 22

Hoffenheim vs Rangers - Saturday, July 29

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