‘They better not underestimate us’ - Michael Beale fires warning shot to PSV ahead of play-off return clash

Bullish Rangers boss Michael Beale has told PSV Eindhoven:“you better not underestimate us” following a tense 2-2 first-leg draw in their Champions League play-off tie.

The Ibrox side will travel to the Netherlands next week for a make or break showdown against the Eredivisie side after goals from Abdallah Sima and Rabbi Matondo were twice cancelled out by Ibrahim Sangare and Luuk de Jong in Govan on Tuesday night.

Rangers will now bid to repeat their heroics of last season under the leadership of previous manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst, when the picked up a stunning away win to secure a place in the competition’s group stage for the first time in 12 years.

Beale remains upbeat about his new-look side’s chances of emulating that success as he praised several players for going to-to-toe with the Dutch giants, who haven’t lost a competitive game since mid-February.

The Gers boss told TNT Sports: “We played against a really good opponent. We wanted to set the tie up for next week. We had it where we wanted it with maybe ten minutes to go and we had a big chance at the end there with Danilo so we can’t be frustrated. We need to get on with the league game this weekend, and then next week it’s a hell of a game, a straight shootout and we’ll go there and have a right go again.

“It’s really hard. I thought Cyriel Dessers, that was his best performance for Rangers so far. You can see he is up to speed, he took the two centre halves on physically, and he’s won that battle with two assists. I was delighted for Abdallah Sima with the goal. There were moments in the game where I’d have liked us to stay in possession of the ball more, but you have to think of the magnitude of the game and the opponent you’re playing against.

“I thought we scored two fantastic goals and we were unfortunate not to get a third right at the death there. Next week they’ll have to come for us, they’re in their home stadium in front of their home fans, and it will give us different spaces that we don’t get domestically. It’s about building a squad with variety. We’ve other players in the squad that play between the lines, but we need players in big spaces who can run in behind. The two goalscorers gave us that for sure.

“I don’t think they will underestimate us, but they’d better not! We will take our away fans there and we’ll go, our away form in Europe is really strong. This is a PSV team that hasn’t lost since February, and we were close to doing that. They’re a team that’s highly assembled in terms of finance, but we had a right go.”