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VfB Stuttgart Boss Markus Babbel Hopes For Rangers' Madjid Bougherra Absence

German boss weary of threat posed by Scottish champions...

Nov 23, 2009 9:16:51 PM

Markus Babbel, VfB Stuttgart (Bongarts / Getty Images)

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Markus Babbel, VfB Stuttgart (Bongarts / Getty Images)

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By Nick Price

VfB Stuttgart boss Markus Babbel has admitted that he would be relieved if Rangers were without Madjid Bougherra for Tuesday's Champions League encounter at Ibrox.

The Algerian defender has not played for the Scottish champions since September due to illness, injury and an inability to return from Africa in time for domestic action.

Rangers manager Walter Smith remained tight-lipped about Bougherra's chances of returning to the starting line-up, after the player again arrived late from international duty following Algeria's World Cup play-off trials against Egypt.

Former Liverpool player Babbel is hoping that the Algerian's delayed return will see him miss out on playing against his side on Tuesday, after seeing the defender's powerful strike deny his side three points in the first meeting between the two sides in Germany.

"Of course, he's a fantastic player," Babbel told a press conference.

"He scored in the first game and is very strong at the back. If he can't play, it's not bad for us."

But Babbel is wary of the threat posed elsewhere from the Scottish side, and pinpointed 17 year old Danny Wilson as a talented deputy after watching the defender's mature performance in Rangers 3-0 win over Kilmarnock at the weekend.

"I saw the game on Saturday, he's a big talent," Babbel said.

"If you can play at 17 years in the Scottish league you have to be good, especially if you play for a team like Glasgow Rangers."

In the Bundesliga, Babbel's side have struggled of late, and were held to a 1-1 draw to bottom club Hertha Berlin at the weekend, a result that saw Babbel's side slip into the bottom three.

But Stuttgart find themselves a point above Rangers in Group G, and Babbel pointed to the standard of the German top flight as reasons to be confident ahead of their trip to Glasgow.

“The quality is quite high in the German league, if you watch our games we created many chances, we played quite well but we can't score all the time," he said.

"We make easy mistakes and concede goals, but I'm confident about this game.

"We are not under pressure, we can play our style of football.”

Babbel is somewhat reassured by his side's ability to create chances, but is clearly vexed by an inability to finish these chances.

"We know Glasgow Rangers have to do something but we are ready to fight for these three points."

"The first game against Rangers we created many chances, especially in the first half," he added.

"Against Urziceni we went 1-0 up, but couldn't hold on.

"Against Sevilla at home, we played a fantastic game but lost because of easy mistakes and because we couldn't score enough goals. In Seville, we played a fantastic second half but couldn't win.”

"This is our problem - in all these games we had a chance to win,” he added.

But, in an ominous warning to Rangers, Babbel was resolute: “Now is the time to win again."

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