Michael Beale demands Rangers players ‘show me they want to be here’ in Leverkusen friendly

New Rangers manager Michael Beale has told his players they will all get a chance to stake their claim against Bayer Leverkusen.

Beale wants his players to show their desire to be part of his new Ibrox era when they play the German side in a friendly in Govan on Saturday.

His first competitive match in charge will come five days later at home to Hibs and he told Rangers TV: “Every player this weekend will be given an opportunity.

“If I’m a fan, I wouldn’t look too closely at the team that starts and think, ‘that’s what the management team will go with against Hibs’.

New manager Michael Beale during a Rangers training session at Auchenhowie. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

“I have told the players everyone will have an opportunity this weekend to show me they want to be part of things.

“We don’t play friendlies. So it’s not going to be flying into tackles but I want it to be focused and intense and I want the players to show me they want to be here and the role that they can play.

“Certainly in the attacking positions, where we have got a number of players, I am going to give everyone an opportunity to stake a claim.”

Beale replaced Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who was sacked last month during the break for the World Cup after an underwhelming start to the season which has left the club nine points behind rivals Celtic at the top of the Premiership.

The new boss will hope to make an early impression against high-quality opposition. Leverkusen are no strangers to Ibrox having played there in the Europa League before football shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak.

After qualifying for the Champions League with a third-place finish in the Bundesliga last season, Leverkusen are having a worse time of it than Rangers. They sit 12th in the German top-flight but did manage to finish third in their Champions League group with Porto, Atletico Madrid and Club Brugge.

Leverkusen are managed by former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich star Xabi Alonso. The celebrated midfielder took over from Gerardo Seoane at the start of October and they began to put a run of form together ahead of the break for the World Cup with three consecutive wins in the Bundesliga.