Jablonec vs Rangers injury news: 5 out, but long-term injured star finally returns! 💙🔥 Rangers have received a major boost ahead of the clash with Jablonec, with a long-term injured player finally back and expected to play.
Rangers travel to Stadion Střelnice on Thursday evening looking to finish a job they started well at Ibrox last week, holding a slender 1-0 advantage over Jablonec in the second leg of their UEFA Conference League play-off. Ryan Naderi’s second-half strike gave Derek McInnes’ side the crucial away goal they needed heading into the reverse fixture, but a nervy finish to the first leg — capped by a red card for Cammy Devlin — means the visit to Czechia is far from the formality some might assume. Kick-off is set for 5pm UK time, and with both the head coach and his squad still finding their feet a matter of weeks into a difficult start to the season, the team news heading into this one carries plenty of significance.
The context around this tie matters as much as the scoreline. Rangers’ 1-0 win at Ibrox was far from comfortable. Naderi’s goal, tapped home in the 50th minute, gave the home crowd something to cheer after a goalless and, by most accounts, underwhelming first half that drew boos at the interval whistle. Djeidi Gassama then spurned a glorious chance to double the lead moments later, blazing over from close range when clean through on goal — the kind of missed opportunity that could yet prove costly if Jablonec find a way back into the tie on home soil.
Matters were complicated further just five minutes after Devlin had been introduced from the bench, when the Australian midfielder was shown a straight red card for a reckless, high challenge on Jiří Sláma. That dismissal leaves Rangers not only defending the tightest of leads away from home, but doing so without one of the players McInnes had turned to for fresh energy in the closing stages of the first leg.
Jablonec, for their part, arrive full of confidence. Under head coach Luboš Kozel, the Czech side have lost just once in their last seven matches — that solitary defeat coming against Rangers at Ibrox — and they’ve won their first four home fixtures in all competitions this season. Having already come through two qualifying rounds, seeing off both NK Varaždin and Latvian outfit RFS along the way, Jablonec have shown they know how to grind out results over two legs, and Kozel will fancy his side’s chances of overturning a single-goal deficit in front of their own supporters.
McInnes’ pre-match team news makes for sobering reading in several areas of the pitch, with five senior players unavailable through injury, suspension, or squad-list issues, and two more rated doubtful for the trip to Czechia.
Tuur Rommens remains the most notable long-term absentee. The Belgian left-back has been sidelined with a groin issue and is expected to be missing for several more weeks, a blow given the balance he offers down Rangers’ left side.
Youssef Chermiti is a similarly serious loss, with the striker ruled out for a significant period after suffering an ACL injury during Rangers’ 2-1 defeat to Hibernian earlier this month. His absence up front has already forced McInnes to reconsider his attacking setup, and reports before the international window suggested the club moved for a replacement striker in the transfer market as a direct consequence.
Jose Cifuentes completes the trio of confirmed absentees. The midfielder, who hasn’t featured for Rangers’ first team since December 2023, is presently sidelined following surgery undergone during pre-season. His route back into contention under McInnes already looked narrow before the injury; this latest setback only lengthens the odds further.
Elsewhere, John Souttar finds himself unavailable for a different reason entirely — the defender was left out of Rangers’ registered Conference League squad altogether, a decision that speaks to his diminishing standing at Ibrox under the new manager. With no route back into European contention this season regardless of fitness, Souttar’s long-term Rangers future looks increasingly bleak.
Add Cammy Devlin to that list, suspended after his sending-off in the first leg, and Rangers are already missing five recognised first-team options for the trip to Czechia before considering the doubts.
Two further players are rated as doubtful for Thursday’s game, and both would represent significant boosts to McInnes’ options if passed fit.
Ben Godfrey on loan from Atalanta, has been missing since picking up a hamstring injury on the opening day of the season against Dundee United. There is cautious optimism that the centre-back could be available for the second leg, though his continued absence through the first-leg win suggests McInnes and his medical staff are not willing to rush him back before he’s ready. Given the defensive reshuffling already forced by Rommens’ and Souttar’s respective situations, Godfrey’s return would be a timely one.
Nico Raskin the second doubt, with the Belgian left out of the matchday squad entirely for the first leg due to what McInnes described as a minor issue. As things stand there has been no fresh update on whether Raskin will be fit to travel or feature in Czechia, leaving his availability something of an open question right up until team sheets are confirme
The Aston Villa loanee made his debut in the closing stages of last week’s first-leg win, coming off the bench late on, and by most assessments did enough in his brief cameo to put himself in contention for a full 90 minutes in Czechia. With Rommens already ruled out long-term at left-back and question marks still hanging over Raskin’s fitness, McInnes has a genuine selection call to make in that area of the pitch — one that could shape how Rangers set up defensively for the remainder of the tie.
Handing a summer loan signing his first start in a match with genuine stakes attached is never a decision to be taken lightly, but the alternative — patching together a makeshift back line from players managing knocks or returning from long absences — carries its own risks. It’s the kind of call that will say plenty about how much trust McInnes already has in his new arrival, this early into both their working relationship and the Rangers manager’s own tenure at Ibrox.
All of this team news lands against the backdrop of what has, by any measure, been a testing opening stretch of the season for Derek McInnes as Rangers manager. His side began the Premiership campaign with a 1-1 draw away at Dundee United before suffering a 2-1 home defeat to Hibernian — the same match in which Chermiti sustained his season-ending knee injury. Rangers were then eliminated from Europa League qualification, beaten 3-2 on aggregate by Polish side Jagiellonia Białystok, a result that pushed the club’s European ambitions for the season down into the Conference League instead.
There have been signs of encouragement amid the setbacks, however. A 5-1 thumping of St Mirren in the Premier Sports Cup — McInnes’ first win in his fifth game in interim charge — offered something for supporters to cling to, and last week’s narrow but professional win over Jablonec continued that upward trend, even if the performance itself left plenty of room for improvement. Speaking after that win, McInnes was careful not to get carried away, stressing that there remains a great deal of work still to do at the club and that his side are, in his own words, still very much a work in progress.
That framing feels appropriate heading into Thursday’s second leg. A place in the Conference League league phase is there for Rangers to claim, and reports suggest the rewards could be considerable — should they get over the line against Jablonec, Rangers are projected to be seeded in pot one for the tournament’s league phase, alongside sides such as Atalanta, Ajax, and Monaco. That would represent a notably favourable position for Scottish football’s most successful side by trophy count, offering a more direct route through the group stage than a lower seeding would allow. It’s a meaningful incentive for a Rangers squad and manager still trying to establish an identity and build momentum after a stuttering star
Rangers are not the only side heading into Thursday’s second leg with fitness concerns to navigate. Jablonec have their own selection headaches, with reports from the first-leg build-up naming both Nassim Innocenti and Kevin Prince-Milla as doubts due to ongoing injury problems. Kozel opted for continuity in his selection for that first match regardless, naming an unchanged starting XI following a 2-1 win over RFS in the previous qualifying round — a decision that reflects the settled, in-form nature of his squad this season, even set against the disappointment of losing at Ibrox.
Whether those fitness issues persist into the second leg remains to be seen, but Kozel’s evident faith in his group suggests Jablonec are unlikely to overhaul their approach wholesale even with a goal to find. Home advantage, an unbeaten record at Stadion Střelnice this season, and the belief that comes from a run of six wins in seven matches will all count in the Czech side’s favour as they look to turn the tie around
For McInnes, Thursday’s fixture represents both an opportunity and a test of squad depth at a moment when his resources are stretched thin. Losing five senior players to injury, suspension, or squad-list technicalities before a ball is even kicked is a significant handicap for any manager navigating a European play-off second leg on the road, and the uncertainty hanging over two further names in Godfrey and Raskin only adds to the selection puzzle.
Yet there is also opportunity buried within the adversity. A player like Nedeljkovic being pushed into first-team contention earlier than might otherwise have been the case is precisely the sort of situation that can accelerate a new signing’s integration into a squad — assuming, of course, that he delivers when called upon. Similarly, whichever combination of defenders McInnes settles on to protect that single-goal lead will need to show the kind of resilience and composure that eluded Rangers for long stretches of the first-half performance at Ibrox last week.
The injury list heading into Thursday’s game can’t be fully separated from the broader context of change happening around Ibrox this summer. McInnes inherited a squad in transition, and the club’s business in the transfer market — both incoming and outgoing — has continued to run in parallel with the early-season fixture list. Reports in the days before this second leg pointed to Celtic stepping up interest in one current Rangers player, while the Ibrox club themselves were said to be weighing up multiple potential exits and remained relatively relaxed about the futures of certain fringe figures. Against that backdrop of squad churn, an injury crisis in defence and midfield is a particularly unwelcome complication — it removes the depth McInnes might otherwise have called upon to rotate or freshen his side for a difficult away leg.
New arrivals have also had to hit the ground running faster than would normally be ideal. Nedeljkovic’s introduction from the bench in the first leg was his first taste of competitive action in a Rangers shirt, and reports suggest another recent signing has already spoken about the pull of Ibrox and the speed of his own move to Scotland — evidence of a squad being reshaped on the fly even as European qualification business continues. It’s not the ideal scenario for a new head coach settling into the job, but it does mean McInnes has some fresh legs and fresh legs alone to call upon in positions where long-serving squad members are presently sidelined.
From a tactical standpoint, the away goal Rangers failed to find at Ibrox — despite Gassama’s glaring miss — looms larger than it might first appear. Had Rangers scored twice rather than once in the first leg, Thursday’s trip to Czechia would carry a considerably more comfortable cushion. As things stand, a single Jablonec goal at Stadion Střelnice would level the tie on aggregate and hand the initiative squarely to the home side, who would then only need a second to complete the turnaround. That single miss from Gassama, in hindsight, adds an extra layer of jeopardy to a second leg that was always likely to be tightly contested given Jablonec’s home form this season.
This is where the uncertainty over Rangers’ central defensive options becomes especially pressing. With Souttar cup-tied out of Conference League contention entirely, Rommens sidelined for the foreseeable future, and Godfrey only a doubt to be fit enough to start, McInnes may be forced into fielding a defensive unit that has had little time to build any real understanding together. Whether that takes the shape of shifting a midfielder into an unfamiliar role, accelerating Nedeljkovic’s introduction at left-back, or simply asking whoever is available to get through ninety minutes on nerve and organisation alone, the head coach’s team-sheet on Thursday will likely tell its own story about just how threadbare his options have become in defensive areas.
Devlin’s suspension adds a further wrinkle in midfield, an area of the pitch where Rangers had already looked short of control during the goalless first-half spell at Ibrox last week. Replacing his energy and willingness to press — the very qualities that got him sent off in the first place — without simply repeating the same disciplinary risk will be one of the more delicate balancing acts McInnes has to manage in his selection.
Regardless of the outcome in Czechia, the broader shape of Rangers’ campaign will start to come into sharper focus once this tie is settled. A positive result would allow McInnes to turn his full attention to a Premiership season that has started unevenly, safe in the knowledge that a lucrative and prestigious European league phase awaits in the autumn. Elimination, by contrast, would represent a significant blow — both financially, given the broadcast and prize-money implications of Conference League qualification, and psychologically, for a squad and manager still trying to build early-season confidence and momentum.
There is also the matter of squad depth to address once the transfer window draws to a close. An injury list already touching five recognised first-team names, with two more hanging in the balance, is not a sustainable situation to carry into a season that will eventually demand strength in depth across four competitions. Whether Rangers move to bring in defensive reinforcements before the window shuts, or instead trust that Godfrey, Raskin, and eventually Rommens will return to bolster the group organically, is likely to become one of the more pressing storylines around Ibrox in the coming weeks.
For now, though, the focus is squarely on Thursday evening in Czechia. A patched-together Rangers side, missing key figures across defence and midfield, travels to face a Jablonec team playing with genuine confidence on home turf. It promises to be anything but a straightforward night for Derek McInnes and his players — but should they navigate it successfully, the reward of Conference League football, and a potential top seeding to go with it, would represent a genuinely significant early marker in what the manager hopes will be a season of steady progress at Ibrox.
There’s a broader narrative unfolding here too, one that stretches beyond a single fixture in the Czech Republic. McInnes took over at a club still adjusting to life after a managerial change, and every result — good or bad — is being read by supporters as evidence for or against the wisdom of his appointment. A difficult sequence of results in the league, combined with elimination from the Europa League, has left little margin for error in the club’s remaining route into continental competition this season. That context inevitably raises the stakes around Thursday’s second leg far beyond what the bare facts of a 1-0 aggregate lead might suggest.
It’s also worth noting how quickly the profile of this Rangers squad is changing. Between long-term absentees like Rommens and Chermiti, players squeezed out of European contention entirely such as Souttar, and brand new faces like Nedeljkovic being fast-tracked into contention out of necessity, the group that takes to the field in Czechia may look markedly different from the one supporters expected to see leading the line this season. How McInnes manages that transition — blending returning faces, enforced changes, and fresh loan signings into something cohesive — will likely define whether Rangers can build any sustained momentum once the current run of fixtures settles down.
Supporters travelling to Czechia, and those watching back home, will simply want to see a side capable of seeing out a slender lead under pressure — a quality that, on the evidence of the first leg’s nervy finish, Rangers have not yet fully proven they possess. Thursday offers the chance to put that right, injury list and all.
