Union Saint-Gilloise captain Anthony Moris relishing playing at Ibrox

Union Saint-Gilloise captain Anthony Moris will take a step back to his days as a budding young player when he returns to Ibrox on Thursday night.

The Luxembourg goalkeeper is only one of two players who faced Rangers in their Champions League qualifier in August 2022 – the other is English defender Ross Sykes – when Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side roared back from a 2-0 first-leg deficit to win 3-2 on aggregate and reach the play-offs, thanks to goals from James Tavernier, Antonio Colak and Malik Tillman.

Like Rangers, the Belgian side have 11 points from seven fixtures and have already qualified for the knockout play-off stage of this season’s Europa League but both clubs have slim chances of finishing in the top eight.

Moris, 34, said: “It takes you back to being a kid. That’s the kind of thing you dream of, playing in an atmosphere like this.

“So it’s going to be a really special night. You should never lose sight of that kind of thing. It’s a legendary stadium, but obviously, we’ve still got a job to do.

“We might have qualified (for play-offs), but it’s important that we maintain the dynamic we’ve had recently in terms of the results and the way that we’ve been playing. And there’s still motivation in the tournament.

“We could make it to the top eight, although we’d need results to go our way in other stadiums, but we can also make sure we get a good draw for the next round by finishing between ninth and 16th and then having our second leg at home in the play-off.”

Sebastien Pocognoli, who took over at USG in 2024, claims he is bringing a “new generation” of players to Ibrox as he looks forward to meeting fellow Belgian Philippe Clement.

He said: “There’s not a lot (players who played at Ibrox), Anthony and Ross Sykes and that’s it. For Anthony it is a long time ago between that game and now.

“We have a new generation of players and very talented. They need to have the experience of these kinds of games to help with the evolution of the team, individually and collective.

“Philippe Clement is one of the most experienced Belgium football coaches around the country, and he has done well when he left Belgium.

“I have only a lot of positive words about him. I’m looking forward to seeing him tomorrow and I think it will be a nice game, because he tried to always play a positive football like us.

“Our approach is the same, like every game that we played this season. I think we have played a good campaign until now, the football has been positive, aggressive, and offensive and tomorrow we will try to have the same philosophy.

“We know that we come face a big team with a big crowd and a big atmosphere, we need to learn also from the game against Fenerbahce (lost 2-1), also the same context let’s say, and we played a very good game.

“So let’s try to bring this game, this experience tomorrow. We will play with a really young team, and it’s also a good test for them.

“But I’m quite confident that my team can bring the style of play that we want, and we will play with bravery.”