Soccer: Celtic target Vugdalic to mark Rangers' Flo

The man handed the task of snubbing out the threat of Rangers’ giant striker Tore Andre Flo in the Champions League has been revealed as a Celtic transfer target.

The Scottish Premier League champions have made enquiries about Slovenia international centre-back Muamer Vugdalic of NK Maribor, according to a Maribor spokesman.

Press officer Uros Jurific said: ‘‘We have two Slovenian internationals in our team - Marco Simeunovic, the goalkeeper, and central defender Muamer Vugdalic.

They are very good players. Celtic asked about Vugdalic.

‘‘For Rangers, without question, Tore Andre Flo is their most dangerous player. He is one of the best attackers in Europe and he is certainly one of the most well-known players in Slovenia. He will be a big threat to our team.

‘‘But they also have players like Claudio Caniggia and Ronald de Boer to play alongside him and I think that our defenders will have to work extremely hard throughout the whole game.’’

Rangers’ pairing with the Slovenian champions in the second qualifying round is a fascinating one and certainly no easy passage for Dick Advocaat’s team.

The winners must go through it all again in the final qualifying phase to reach the lucrative group stages.

A UEFA Cup slot is the consolation prize for failure at the final hurdle but for the losers of the second round clash it means the end of their European campaign there and then.

The stakes are high, therefore, and failure for the Ibrox millionaires could even hasten the end of the Advocaat era.

Maribor do not have such pressures on their shoulders but Jurific admitted defeat would have an effect on their forward planning.

He said: ‘‘We believe that we couldn’t have been drawn against any tougher opponents out of the group. I do, however, think that it will be an advantage for us to be playing the first leg at home.

‘‘The Ljudski Stadium is quite intimidating for the away team because our fans are so supportive. We have played against PSV Eindhoven, Lyon and Genk and beaten them all.

‘‘We also drew 1-1 with Ajax and the opinion from our team is that our best chance of progressing will definitely be in the first leg.

‘‘We have to be optimistic but realistically it’s going to be very difficult to progress against Glasgow Rangers because everyone knows how strong they are. Of course we’ll have our chances, but the favourites to win both legs would have to be Rangers.

‘‘I don’t think that we will bring many fans to Glasgow with us because the trip will be very expensive. Due to the economic circumstances in our country it will probably cost too much for our fans to travel.

‘‘It is very important for our club to succeed in European competitions, although a realistic result for us would be progressing through to the third qualifying stage and then dropping into the UEFA Cup.

‘‘But after this draw we must consider the possibility of not progressing to the next round, and if that happens then we may have to review our financial plan for the coming season.’’

The first leg will be in Slovenia on July 25, with the return leg in Glasgow on August 1.