Fabio Silva ready to put friendships aside as Rangers face Benfica
Last updated 7th Mar 2024
Fabio Silva will put friendships aside when Rangers face his old club Benfica in the Europa League.
The 21-year-old Portuguese attacker, on loan from Wolves, spent two years in the Eagles' academy before returning to first club Porto, from where he was sold to the Molineux club in 2020 for a reported £35million.
Speaking in the Estadio da Luz, Silva spoke glowingly of Rangers' Europa League last-16 opponents - who have lost to Porto and Sporting Lisbon in their last two games - as he looked to leave Lisbon with a positive result.
He said: "I know Benfica and know some of their players from the national team too. It is nice to see some familiar faces, of course.
"But the most important thing for me now is Rangers.
"I am looking forward to my first European game with the club and that is what I am thinking about.
"But, yeah, it is special to come back to my country to see friends and family.
"And, of course, it is more special because I played here when I was young.
"I was here for two years and everyone gave me everything so I have nothing to say against anyone here. It is going to be special for me to play here.
"As I have said before, I had two good years here.
"All the people here gave me a lot of love and they taught me a lot of good things.
"I don't have any problem with saying the truth about that.
"It is a big game, two big teams, and a big European game and I am looking forward to my first Europa League game for Rangers.
"I am really excited for this game.
"It is always special to play in this competition, everybody knows that, so nobody needs any motivation to play this game.
"It is a nice stadium, against a nice team, so our level of motivation is very high.
"It is going to be a difficult game. They need to show their fans a reaction because their last two results were not so good. We expect that but we are prepared for everything.
"It is not one game, it is two games, so we need to consider that."
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