Former Celtic defender Saidy Janko finally gets to play against Rangers at Ibrox. The ex-Hoops man never had the chance to experience a Glasgow Derby during his short stint.
Janko and his Young Boys team are looking to make it two consecutive defeats for the Gers. A win will be the icing on the cake for Janko who is likely to experience the negativity from the Ibrox crowd.
Celtic man Saidy Janko will experience Rangers and Ibrox
Janko and co have so much pressure on them heading into the crunch Europa League tie.
It is essentially winner takes all to progress into the last 32 of the competition with the group perfectly poised. Young Boys handed the Gers their only European defeat this season thanks to late heroics in Switzerland.
Steven Gerrard’s men will be low on confidence after the League Cup final defeat at the hands of Celtic. Janko will be aiming to make his first Ibrox experience a memorable one on Thursday night.
Janko didn’t play against the Gers at Ibrox because Mikael Lustig kept him from the first team. However, Janko has a 100% record against Rangers that he will be looking to continue.
Could ex-Celt be doing his other former a team a favour?
Things are still frosty between Janko and his old team FC Porto. The right-back was at the Portuguese side, but not for long as the manager didn’t like his style.
However, if Young Boys go on to win against the Ibrox side and Porto beat Feyenoord then they qualify. The group couldn’t be closer and it’s on a knife edge – compared to Celtic’s ease with topping their group.
Will Celtic want the Gers to go through so their bitter rivals have just the same amount of games to play? Alternatively, there will be some in the Hoops faithful that the Gers won’t pick up a cheap buck from another full house.
It will be interesting to see at the end of the season if progressing or not had an impact on the title. But, for Janko’s sake, everyone in green will be hoping for a Young Boys win.
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