• f
  • f
  • f

Leon Balogun has spoken to the media ahead of the Champions League fixture with Dynamo Kyiv. Here is everything he had to say.


Read more: Check all the Rangers transfer news & rumours throughout the transfer window


How are the team feeling ahead of such a big game?

I think everybody's very determined to have a good performance tomorrow. It's obviously been a quick turnaround, but it's a big occasion. You want to step up and rise to the occasion, so there's a lot of motivation in the team and we’re hungry. 

It's not ideal for such a big game to come so early in the season, but are you confident that the guys are up to speed enough to deliver their best tomorrow night?

It’s not ideal but I'm not too fussed about it, because I think if you want to play in the Champions League, there's no greater motivation than club football. So I think there should be enough for each and every individual in the squad. 

What are you expecting from Dynamo Kiev?

I think they’re a very good footballing side. Obviously they had a very strong performance in the last qualification round, winning 9-2 on aggregate. So there's quality there, but we've got quality, and it's for us to worry about us and make sure that we diminish that as much as we can and try to play our football and get success from that.

Can Cyriel Dessers score the goals to get you into the Champions League?

What do you expect me to say? What do you mean, how confident am I if he starts scoring? I think he's scored quite an amount of goals for us already, and the season just started last weekend, so I don't really know what you're getting at. I looked at him last season and I think he's scored a significant amount of goals. So yeah, I am [confident].

Leon, how exciting is it for you, even at this stage in your career, the prospect of going to play in the Champions League at that level again? 

Massively. We spoke about finances and all these things before. Obviously, they play a big part for various reasons, but for me that's the biggest motivation. I've never played in the Champions League, I've played in the qualifiers before, for Rangers as well. It didn't work out. So, like you said, at this stage of my career, that would be one of my biggest achievements, and it would fill me with immense pride, so that's my personal motivation. I'm sure that every single player who came out here today has their own individual reasons for wanting to go through into the group stages.