Braga boss Carlos Carvalhal expects Rangers to be focused despite Celtic defeat

Carlos Carvalhal expects Rangers to be fully focused for their clash with Braga on Thursday despite their title defence being derailed at the weekend.

The much-travelled former Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea boss, who has also worked in Turkey and Greece, joined Braga from fellow Portuguese club Rio Ave in 2020.

Carvalhal was at Ibrox on Sunday to see Rangers lose 2-1 to Old Firm rivals Celtic in the cinch Premiership, which left the Hoops six points clear at the top of the table with six games remaining.

However, the Braga boss does not expect the setback to affect Giovanni Van Bronckhorst's side.

He said: "The mentality of the Scottish teams and British teams is that they don't cry over spilt milk.

"They lost, it's over and they will be focused on our game.

"Of course, it was heavy for them (defeat), there is no doubt about that, but I know they will overcome this adversity.

"British people and Scottish people are very good at this. So we have to be at our best."

Carvalhal has indicated that he could again be on his way at the end of the season when his contract is up, but at the moment he is focusing on the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final against the Ibrox men and is out to impress.

He said: "We are doing our job and it's what we did at Rio Ave before and with Braga this year and last.

"We all the time have this expectation that the big clubs can look to us. Of course like the players, it's the same for the manager.

"So we have a philosophy, one way to play for sure all the time but with different variations in our game.

"So we have the expectation that someone will look to us and say come and work with us.

"We've had it in the past, with clubs who said, 'we want you because we want to play like your team is playing at the moment'. So this is very positive.

"We have an opportunity not just to show this to England, but to all the world. So let's see what we can do..

"We've got the youngest team left in the Europa League. We have a lot of boys with very good quality.

"This question is put to me and I understand, but it also goes for our players.

"David Carmo was linked last year with Liverpool. We have a lot of talented players aged 17, 18, 19 who want to play in England.

"They now have a good opportunity to show their abilities to the clubs across the world. The clubs will look to the manager but also the players."

• superscoreboard