Dejan Stankovic starts Rangers Europa League mind games as Red Star boss calls on Borussia Dortmund precedent

Red Star boss Dejan Stankovic watched side put in the perfect preparation for the Europa League showdown against Rangers – then claimed the Ibrox giants are huge favourites.

The Serbian champions were celebrating a milestone just like Rangers at the weekend as they marked their 77th birthday in style when their infamous Delije fans group unleashed a spectacular fireworks display inside their Marakana Stadium while their hammering of bottom side Novi Pazar was still going on.

Red Star cruised to a 5-0 win that they could have easily have doubled if they hadn’t relaxed after storming into a four-goal lead inside the first quarter of the match.

Classy Serbian international Aleksandar Katai scored a hat-trick with goals from Montenegro international Mirko Ivanic and prolific Norwegian Ohi Omoijuanfo in a one-sided rout.

Former Inter Milan and Lazio star Stankovic - the only man to have played at the World Cup Finals for three countries - has been impressed with Rangers ’ run to this stage of the competition and was full of praise for their win against Borussia Dortmund in the last round.

And he expects a tough night in Scotland on Thursday.

He said: “First of all I would like to congratulate Rangers on their 150th birthday celebrations.

“We are satisfied with that win because we are coming to Glasgow happy within ourselves after a win like that. I hope we can get a good result at Ibrox. What’s important for me is to set it up for the second leg in the Marakana.

“We are very happy with the display because it gave us the ideal way to prepare for playing Rangers.

“I had an opportunity to take some of my important players off early to rest them for this week’s game because the match was won at an early stage.

“So in every