Rangers star ‘looking forward’ to European challenge after ‘disappointing’ year
Michael Beale’s team meet Real Betis at Ibrox on Thursday to begin their UEFA Europa League campaign in 2023/24.
Rangers return to European competition this week, hoping to put their heartbreak at missing out on the UEFA Champions League group stages behind them.
Michael Beale’s side were relegated to the UEFA Europa League after losing to PSV in the play-off round, and they begin their group stage campaign on Thursday when Real Betis visit Ibrox. Tom Lawrence, a former Derby County midfielder, is looking forward to the challenge of European football after a year of injury misery.
The Welshman missed the majority of last season but is now back to full fitness and has spoken up about the frustrations of his recovery during that period. “It’s difficult, obviously,” he told GlasgowWorld’s sister publication The Scotsman. I had a great start here, as we qualified for the Champions League and I was doing well.
“Then you get hurt.” It’s difficult because there are different stages of the damage, so you have to think in terms of the short term rather than the long term, if you know what I mean. It’s the little things you can look forward to, the modest aspirations and goals that keep you going.
“There were setbacks, which was probably the most difficult thing because you think it’ll heal and everything will be fine, and then there’s another setback.” Then you aim for something else, and it’s another setback.”It was just incredibly upsetting since I had worked so hard in the gym for it not to happen. It was a disaster.
“I had the disappointment of missing out on Europe last year due to my injury,” he continued. I truly want to play in Europe and am quite excited about it. Winning instills confidence; each game does so.
“Whether you’re competing in domestic or European competitions. If you win, you will gain confidence from those games. It’s a huge deal in football, and we have an opportunity to get some momentum going.”
