Giovanni van Bronckhorst insists that Rangers can cope without top goalscorer Alfredo Morelos, after his side suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to Braga in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday night.
The 25-year-old's absence was felt by the Gers, who failed to register a single shot on target at the Estadio Municipal de Braga.
Abel Ruiz scored the only goal of the game five minutes before half time, handing the Portuguese outfit a slender advantage heading into next week's second leg at Ibrox.
Speaking to reporters after the match, Van Bronckhorst insisted that his side are capable of causing problems in the final third without Morelos – who is sidelined for the rest of the season after undergoing thigh surgery – and he believes that the Gers need to find 'another way' to score goals in the Colombian's absence.
"Yes, (we can cope without Morelos) well, we have to," the Dutchman said.
"We know that he is out for the remainder of the season. You have to do it another way. We have a big squad, with maybe other qualities than Morelos. We have to go with the squad we have now."
Van Bronckhorst was also questioned about Aaron Ramsey, who was dropped to the substitutes' bench after scoring in the Old Firm derby last weekend, and although the Welshman did not feature in Portugal, the Rangers boss revealed that it was a tactical decision not to call upon the midfielder.
When asked whether Ramsey was fully fit, Van Bonckhorst said: "Yes he was fit. The midfielders, they did well, we had the substitutions with Joe [Aribo] coming on with Ryan [Jack] on a yellow as well.
"I thought the subs went really good but you know there are more games to play so we will use the full squad."
Rangers will now turn their attention to Sunday's Scottish Premiership clash away at St Mirren, with the current top-flight holders sitting six points behind league leaders and bitter rivals Celtic. body check tags ::
