Rangers danger for Giggs

A surprise goalscorer won the day as Manchester United FC beat Rangers FC 1-0 on Matchday 3, but as the return leg at Old Trafford looms, uefa.com's UEFA Champions League diarist Ryan Giggs knows the Scottish side are no pushover.

By Ryan Giggs

I don't think the bookmakers would have taken many bets on Phil Neville scoring the only goal of the game against Rangers at Ibrox a fortnight ago. Phil's isn't exactly the most prolific goalscorer in the United squad but it was a good goal and, crucially, it sealed the three points we needed. It also subdued the Rangers fans during the early exchanges, which helped us establish a foothold in the game.

Rangers relief
To be honest, the match was everything I expected it to be. Perhaps it wasn't a classic, but it was certainly fiercely contested, Rangers asked us a lot of questions and the Ibrox crowd were in good voice. It is a great stadium to play in and we were delighted and maybe a little relieved to come away with a narrow victory.

Home comforts
The early goal obviously set us up but in the first half in particular I felt Rangers showed enough to suggest they are capable of getting a result at Old Trafford. We never expect to lose at home in any competition, and Tuesday night is no different, but we're realistic and we know we will have to be on top of our game to avoid dropping points.

Possession counts
Rangers were very good at retaining possession and that is perhaps the most important attribute for any team at this level. If you don't keep the ball in the Champions League sooner or later you will get punished but I think the Ibrox game proved both sides have learned this lesson.

Familiar faces
It's strange to be playing them so soon after the first match because you tend to get longer gaps between return games and I think it will add to the atmosphere at Old Trafford. The Ibrox game will still be fresh in the minds of the players and the fans and that will probably give the evening an even greater sense of excitement.

Old Firm
I said before the first game that I wasn't a fan of the idea of Rangers and Celtic playing in the English Premiership in the future and I still stand by that. I'm certainly not saying, from a football perspective, that the Old Firm couldn't cut it in the Premiership - I think Rangers' performance against us at Ibrox proved they definitely could - I just feel it would be a dark day for Scottish football if they did.

Talent in reserve
Unfortunately it looks like we'll have to do without Paul Scholes for a few weeks but despite his obvious influence on the team, that shouldn't upset us too much. The strength in depth in our squad is there now to cover all eventualities and although we're talking about having a world-class act on the treatment table rather than out on the pitch where he belongs, we've got plenty of talent waiting in the wings.

Big squad
Everyone knows the importance of the squad game these days and having the ability to cover for players like Scholesy, as well as Kleberson and Wes Brown, is the perfect example of why it really is all about 20 or 25 players, rather than a select 15. Maybe a few years ago we would have struggled to cope had we lost three players of that calibre but I don't think that's the case now.