Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has admitted it's vitally important his side do not suffer a second-successive Europa League Group A defeat when they take on Sparta Prague in the Czech capital on Thursday (Sparta Prague 9/5, Rangers 8/5, draw 12/5).

The Scottish champions opened their European group campaign with a disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Lyon, and now must try and bounce back against Sparta, who kicked-off with a 0-0 draw against Danish outfit Brondby.

Sparta, who finished second in their domestic league last season, are unbeaten in their last four at home, winning three of those games to nil, and proved too good for Scottish opposition last term when beating Celtic 4-1 both home and away in this competition.

So it's likely to be a tricky tie for the Gers, who have midfielder Scott Arfield, defender Stephen Kelly and goalkeeper Robby McCrorie back in the squad but remain without injured quartet Filip Helander, Ryan Kent, Nnamdi Ofoborh and Ryan Jack.

Gerrard wants to get some points on the board ahead of upcoming home and away games against Brondby in their next two Europa League matches.

He said: "We're fighting and competing for as many points as we can get. We're going to fight for all the points that are available in all the games, this is a big one, because we've lost our first one, so it's important we get something from this.

"I predict it's going to be a real good game, two good teams going head to head. I'm excited and looking forward to the game - there's more to come from us and when it does we'll be a really good team to watch."

Their Old Firm rivals, meanwhile, take on German side Bayer Leverkusen, with Celtic also looking for their first win after losing their Group G opener 4-3 to Real Betis (Celtic 11/4, Leverkusen 19/20, draw 11/4).

Boss Ange Postecoglou is hoping for a big European night at Parkhead although he knows the Bhoys, who have won just two of their last seven games in all competitions, could be up against it as they host the team who are second in the Bundesliga, who have won six of their last eight, including the last three on the bounce.

"I'm sure it will be a fantastic occasion, our first home game against a quality opponent, which I'm sure the fans and the whole squad are super excited about," he said.

"We want to play these games and really test ourselves. They're a quality opponent and we'll go out there with the same intention as we did against Betis away, and that's to go at them and try be aggressive and attacking, and with the crowd behind us, hopefully we can create something special."

Top scorer Kyogo Furuhashi, midfielder Callum McGregor and striker Georgios Giakomakis are all back in training but are only expected to be on the bench at best, while James McCarthy is fit after a knock. Full-back Josip Juranovic is out with a hamstring injury and winger James Forrest and left-back Greg Taylor are both also still absent through injury.

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