'It’ll probably happen again': Malmo boss reminds Rangers about past upsets

Henrik Rydstrom believes there was no harm in Malmo’s social media team reminding Rangers of past failures against the Swedish club – and warned it could happen again.

The Light Blues have twice been paired with the Malmo in Champions League qualifiers and twice fell short, losing 4-2 on aggregate in their 2021 clash and 2-1 on aggregate when they faced each other in 2011.

Malmo’s official X account said on Tuesday night: “Welcome back to Malmo, @RangersFC. We’ve missed you” then recalled the Ibrox club’s financial meltdown after they met in 2011 with Rangers re-emerging in the bottom tier of Scottish football.

They also noted that Rangers reached the Europa League final in 2022, after having their Champions League hopes quashed by Malmo.

Some of the responses to Malmo’s post were less than friendly but speaking in his media conference before their opening Europa League contest on Thursday, boss Rydstrom said: “I haven’t seen the video.

“If I know our media department, it’s done with a lot of love. I think we need that in football.

“I believe it’s a good one. It’s never a bad thing to remind the opponent that this happened before and it will probably happen again.

“I’m really sure that our video was a bit fun, and I think the responses is also with that spirit. And that’s my experience with the Scottish supporters. A lot of passion, a lot of joy you can say. But also a fun part.

“I don’t see any problem with it. I think it’s really nice. I think the game is going to be intense and it’s going to be a really tough game.

“We have seen them playing a little bit in Europe, but also in their own league.

“We know they are strong in their own league. We are strong in our league. I’m not sitting here and saying that we are better and they are worse. We have respect for the opponent, but we also have big belief in ourselves.”

Meanwhile, Malmo skipper Anders Christiansen remains happy that there is no VAR in operation in Sweden’s domestic competitions, albeit it will be in used in their Europa League campaign

The Denmark international, who played against Rangers in 2021, said: “I don’t think you will find one person here in Sweden that likes VAR.

“It’s the same for me. I don’t think at the moment that VAR is giving a better product for football.

“I think there’s too much delay. I think you take out the passion. I come from Denmark and we have it in Denmark and after every game there’s discussion about VAR.

“So I don’t think we remove any problem. We just move the problem from one thing to another thing.

“So I’m really glad that we don’t have VAR in Sweden. I hope we will keep that for a long time.

“We have been in Europe before and played games with VAR. It’s different but it’s not like we cannot handle it.

“They were two good games (in 2021). It was the first home game also with the supporters after Covid.

“A nice day, but most importantly, we had two good performances, two good games. Now we have to play on the same level again.”