sligoman
26/08/2005, 12:22 PM
Inter Milan are to ask Uefa if they can switch their Champions League home tie against Rangers to Ibrox instead of an empty San Siro Stadium next month. The Italians must play their first four European home games behind closed doors after crowd trouble marred their match against AC Milan last season. Inter are to ask if they can play in Scotland or at a neutral venue.
Rangers boss Alex McLeish said: "It strikes me as horrendous that we will have to play in an empty stadium." Inter were punished after fans threw missiles on to the San Siro pitch during last term's quarter-final second leg tie with Milan.
"It will be an eerie atmosphere and it might be hard to adjust to that so we will really have to think about this," said McLeish. We could have been handed an easier draw, but we could have suffered a tougher one
"I certainly never played in any completely empty stadiums in my time."
However, the Rangers boss was reasonably pleased with the draw, which will see his side also take on Porto and Artmedia Bratislava.
"It is my hope we can be competitive in all of the matches and achieve some success, McLeish added.
"We could have been handed an easier draw, but we could have suffered a tougher one."
Porto, 2004's Champions League winners, had a disappointing last season, finishing runners-up to Benfica in the Portuguese league.
But they have a new manager, Dutchman Co Adriaanse, who steered AZ Alkmaar to the semi-finals of the Uefa Cup. And the unfancied Dutch side beat Rangers 1-0 in the group stage of the competition. However, Rangers will be confident of avoiding the disaster which befell Celtic in Slovakia, when Gordon Strachan's first match in charge ended in a 5-0 thrashing by Artmedia.
Celtic won the return game 4-0 and the side from Bratislava looked very ordinary in that game.
But Artmedia won through in the final qualifying round on penalties after both legs of their clash with Partizan Belgrade ended goalless.
"I reckon it is fate that has paired us with Artmedia," McLeish added. "We have to respect what they have achieved. They obviously knocked Celtic out, although they were run close in the second leg, but they then went on from there." Rangers open with a home game against Porto on 13 September, then travel to Milan before a double-header with Artmedia.
The Ibrox side's group campaign ends with a home tie against Inter.
Rangers boss Alex McLeish said: "It strikes me as horrendous that we will have to play in an empty stadium." Inter were punished after fans threw missiles on to the San Siro pitch during last term's quarter-final second leg tie with Milan.
"It will be an eerie atmosphere and it might be hard to adjust to that so we will really have to think about this," said McLeish. We could have been handed an easier draw, but we could have suffered a tougher one
"I certainly never played in any completely empty stadiums in my time."
However, the Rangers boss was reasonably pleased with the draw, which will see his side also take on Porto and Artmedia Bratislava.
"It is my hope we can be competitive in all of the matches and achieve some success, McLeish added.
"We could have been handed an easier draw, but we could have suffered a tougher one."
Porto, 2004's Champions League winners, had a disappointing last season, finishing runners-up to Benfica in the Portuguese league.
But they have a new manager, Dutchman Co Adriaanse, who steered AZ Alkmaar to the semi-finals of the Uefa Cup. And the unfancied Dutch side beat Rangers 1-0 in the group stage of the competition. However, Rangers will be confident of avoiding the disaster which befell Celtic in Slovakia, when Gordon Strachan's first match in charge ended in a 5-0 thrashing by Artmedia.
Celtic won the return game 4-0 and the side from Bratislava looked very ordinary in that game.
But Artmedia won through in the final qualifying round on penalties after both legs of their clash with Partizan Belgrade ended goalless.
"I reckon it is fate that has paired us with Artmedia," McLeish added. "We have to respect what they have achieved. They obviously knocked Celtic out, although they were run close in the second leg, but they then went on from there." Rangers open with a home game against Porto on 13 September, then travel to Milan before a double-header with Artmedia.
The Ibrox side's group campaign ends with a home tie against Inter.