Connor Barron urges Rangers to be disciplined in European matches

Connor Barron believes Rangers have to be card careful in Thursday night’s Europa League clash with Sturm Graz in Austria.

The Light Blues will be without midfielder Mohamed Diomande, who was sent off in the 1-0 defeat by Genk in last week’s Europa League opener at Ibrox, while full-back Max Aarons saw red in the previous Euro fixture – the Champions League 6-0 play-off defeat by Club Brugge.

The former Aberdeen midfielder said: “You’ve got to be wary as a player all the time, you’ve got to be cautious.

“It’s one of those things in football, sometimes it happens and you’ve just got to deal with it.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been on the wrong end of that twice now.

“We’ve just got to stay disciplined and do our jobs on the pitch.”

Barron admits the prospect of a World Cup place with Scotland offers huge incentive but admits he has to first cement his place in the Rangers side.

The 23-year-old midfielder made his international debut in June when Scotland beat Liechtenstein 4-0 but was left out of last month’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Denmark and Belarus and the upcoming qualifiers against Greece and Belarus.

Barron was asked about the potential for getting to next summer’s World Cup finals in USA, Canada, and Mexico.

He said: “Yeah, it would be brilliant. It’s one you dream about as a kid. Fingers crossed and I’ve just got to keep putting in the performances to hopefully get there.

“You’ve got to do well at your club and you’ve got to be a performer week in and week out to get into it.

“It’s one of them. I’ve got to take care of the club football first.

“If that (Scotland) comes, it comes. It’s a massive bonus for me, but as I say, this is my bread and butter here and this is all I care about.

“I’ve obviously had to be patient coming into the start of the season.

“I wasn’t playing as much as I would have liked to, but we’re a competitive team and competitive for places as well, which is good and I think when I came on I’ve done well.

“It’s just about me stamping myself into the team and making sure that I stay there.”