Rangers suspension threat as four players walk Europa tightrope | OneFootball

The Europa League quarter-finals are almost here, and Rangers find themselves in a dicey situation. Four of their key players—Hamza Igamane, Jefte, Connor Barron, and Nicolas Raskin—are each one yellow card away from being suspended. Can you feel the pressure? It’s like they’re inching their way across a crowded, narrow bridge, where any wrong move could mean they fall—and fall hard. Where do they land? In the semi-finals, hopefully. But Igamane, Jefte, Barron, and Raskin have to rely on a bridge of discipline and concentration to safely carry them across, making sure their presence in the next legs of the tournament is anything but precarious.

The stakes are indeed high for Rangers as they prepare for a thrilling encounter with Athletic Bilbao. Imagine the scene: Ibrox Stadium filled to the brim with expectant fans, all of them chanting and singing in support of the home team, the heroes in blue (or at least, mostly blue). Now also imagine a yellow card lurking somewhere in the scene, a double agent that could turn hero into villain at the referee’s discretion. Every right-footed or left-footed challenge is a potential infraction. And the home team is already down two men—John Souttar and Mohamed Diomande—because the two have hit “yellow” in their card counts in prior European contests. So, given the do-or-die nature of this match, how do four key Rangers avoid bloating the yellow card count? (Besides memorizing referee rules.) By playing with smarts and coolness.

The semi-finals are an ironic place for Rangers, really. If they make it past Athletic Bilbao, they could be characterized as a little loose; after all, any player who picks up a yellow card in the quarter-finals sees their slate wiped clean. Then again, it’s all too easy to say that this kind of leniency makes up for the harshness of the yellow card itself in a match as tight as the one likely to come up in the first leg at Ibrox Stadium. That kind of forgiving atmosphere, especially in a place like Glasgow, will indeed be electric, given the storied history of the two teams and the added incentive of a place in the not-too-distant future where all is forgiven.

So what are Rangers and Athletic Bilbao playing for, apart from the usual pride and glory? Survival, for a start. Each player has a role to fill, and each must stay alert, aggressive, and alive, not just to win this game but to see their side through the 180 minutes, plus any extra time. A large part of the team’s survival depends on how it wins duels. Win those, and you have the ball; keep winning, and you have a pretty good chance of marching on to the final. As fans ready themselves for this big night, an ugly thought intrudes: What if one of Rangers’ four vulnerable players succumbs to the yellow card and has to sit out the second-leg encounter?