Scottish giants Rangers will welcome Spanish outfit Athletic Bilbao to Ibrox for the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie on Thursday, with the match kicking off at 20:00 BST.
Read on for our in-depth analysis of Thursday’s match, which includes team news, predictions and betting tips.
Tip 1
No player has committed more fouls in this season’s Europa League than Rangers midfielder Nicolas Raskin, whose tally of 29 is nine more than anyone else.
That has only led to the Belgium international picking up two yellow cards in Europe, but he has been cautioned 10 times across all competitions and could be susceptible to a booking on Thursday, especially if Rangers are chasing the game.
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Tip 2
Rangers have lost five home matches in a row across all competitions and will be facing an Athletic Bilbao side who are unbeaten in five and have only lost once on their travels in La Liga since early October.
Athletic have also scored in all 10 of their Europa League games this season, but Rangers have only failed to net once in the competition and can contribute to what should be an entertaining contest.
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Rangers currently sit second in the Scottish Premiership, but they are a full 13 points behind league leaders Celtic despite winning at their Old Firm rivals last month.
Barry Ferguson was named Rangers’ interim manager following the sacking of Philippe Clement in February, but they have continued to leak goals under their former captain.
Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Hibernian in the SPL means Rangers have now lost five home matches in a row across all competitions.
Centre-back John Souttar and midfielder Mohamed Diomande will both miss Thursday’s first leg through suspension, while defender Neraysho Kasanwirjo remains sidelined with a long-term knee injury.
Rangers reached the final of the Europa League in 2022 when they were only narrowly edged out by Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties.
Rangers Predicted XI: Butland; Tavernier, Propper, Balogun; Sterling, Barron, Raskin, Jefte; Bajrami, Cerny; Dessers.
Athletic Bilbao are fourth in La Liga, six points clear of fifth-placed Villarreal, with only Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid above them in the standings.
Ernesto Valverde is in his third spell in charge of Athletic – a club he also represented as a player – and he has made his team hard to beat, as they have lost the joint-fewest games (four) and conceded the joint-fewest goals (24) in La Liga this season.
The Lions are unbeaten in their last five games across all competitions, although their previous two matches, against Osasuna and Villarreal, have finished goalless.
Experienced left back Yuri Berchiche is expected to miss this game with the calf injury he picked up against Villarreal, although the news is more positive for fellow defender Aitor Paredes, who was forced off with a muscle issue in the same game.
This is Athletic’s first European quarter-final since 2016, but they have extra incentive to go all the way this season, as the Europa League final will be played at their San Mames home.
Athletic Bilbao Predicted XI: Simon; Gorosabel, Paredes, Vivian, Boiro; Prados, Jauregizar; I. Williams, Sancet, N. Williams; Guruzeta.
This will be the first competitive meeting between these two sides since the quarter-finals of the 1968/69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
Rangers won the first leg at Ibrox 4-1 and progressed from the tie 4-3 on aggregate despite losing the return fixture 2-0.
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