Rangers have been told to take a page from last season's book and fire crosses into the box if they want to beat PSV and reach the Champions League group stage.
Gio van Bronckhorst 's team are in the Netherlands for their second leg showdown having fought out a 2-2 draw at Ibrox to set up a fiery second leg. The Dutch team are heavy favourites to advance but Rangers built a run to the Europa League final last season on defying the odds and will believe they can pick up another big Euro win in Eindhoven.
Central to their run to Seville last season were full-backs Borna Barisic and James Tavernier, with the skipper especially influential. He finished as the competition's top scorer, and a UEFA technical report reckons that duo could be key again tonight. That's because crosses accounted for nearly 38 per cent of all 138 goals in last season's Europa League.
UEFA technical observer and former Kilmarnock boss Mixu Paatelainen feels those stats will be reflected in the second leg showdown. He said: "The game is going more and more to fast transitions and we will see more of these, getting the ball into the box quick and low. These crosses will lead to a lot of goals."
That's backed up by a UEFA report which reads: "One of the main takeaways from the 2021/22 UEFA Europa League season was how well width was being exploited, with attacking wing play one of the most productive avenues to goal: 138 goals (37.7%) came from crosses (98 from open play).
"The final was a prime example, with a collection of the competition's best crossers all on the same pitch. Frankfurt's Filip Kostic and Rangers full-backs Borna Barisic and James Tavernier turned the art of crossing into one of the key features of the entire 2021/22 campaign, and their success suggests it is a development which will stick."
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