For his first interview with the Scottish media on Friday, Fabio Silva was unable to get through the press conference without complimenting one Rangers player in particular.
While Philippe Clement and his coaching staff are putting the first team players through their paces in La Manga, the Portuguese attacker is getting to know his new Ibrox teammates.
During the Scottish Premiership’s winter break, Rangers are in Spain and will play a friendly match against Hertha Berlin behind closed doors today. After that, they will take a plane back to Glasgow to play FC Copenhagen on Tuesday in order to complete their preparations for their trip to Dumbarton for the Scottish Cup.
Silva want to impress the Rangers supporters and contribute to what should be an incredible second half of the season, so he will be eager to play in that match and beyond.
The £35 million his home club spent Porto for the on-loan Wolves player back in 2020 makes him a valuable asset. He established himself and had some wonderful early memories at the Estadio do Dragao club.
However, he did play against Rangers while at Porto, and the young player didn’t have a great performance in that specific 2019 encounter at Ibrox. Alfredo Morelos and Steven Davis each scored to help the Europa League team win 2-0 in the group stage.
After disclosing that he spoke with the Rangers captain after that 2-0 loss in Govan, Silva briefly discussed that encounter with the media at La Manga before waxing poetic about James Tavernier.
Fabio Silva on ‘legend’ James Tavernier
“The memories of that game with Porto are not so good because we lost that game – but I do remember that the environment at Ibrox is something special,” Fabio Silva remembered, as published in the Daily Record. I told my family that the atmosphere was insane when I played here with Porto when I learned that Rangers was a possibility for me.
“In that game, I entered as a substitute. It was advantageous since I began to play a little bit more for Porto after that. We had to complete the drug control after the game, so I recall meeting James Tavernier afterwards.
“I don’t really recall what we talked about. What was the date of that game—four or five years ago? Naturally, though, Tav is a fantastic player. He scores so many goals from right back. He is a myth. Morelos is also noteworthy. That evening, he was ablaze.”
