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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Aidan Smith

Sparta Prague given extra time off to prepare for Rangers ahead of Ibrox showdown

Sparta Prague boss Brian Priske has given his players two days off to prepare for playing Rangers in the Europa League this week.

Rangers face the Czech champions on Thursday at Ibrox in the fourth round of games in their group, with just three points separating all four teams.

Sparta bounced back from a shock loss in the league last week to Mlada Boleslav by defeating city rivals Bohemians twice in four days in the Czech Cup and in the league.

But Priske reckons his players need rest before the huge clash in Glasgow.

He said: "A difficult and crucial week awaits us before we have a hard game at Banik Ostrava next weekend.

"The game against Rangers is the most important of them. It will, of course, be challenging, but will be a beautiful match in a great stadium. For us, it is another important European night.

"So I have given the players two days off to preserve their energy.

"We have had a lot of football recently and I think you could see that out there against Bohemians, particularly in the first half. Although we won, we did not perform to the standards I expect,

"That was probably due to the amount of matches we have played recently and that's why I have told the players to rest for a couple of days."

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