On Thursday night, Rangers and Crvena Zvezda go head to head-to-head in the first leg of the last-16 of the Europa League with everything to play for in the competition.
Rangers head into this clash on the back of a nine-game unbeaten run in all competitions. However, several draws in the SPL have allowed arch-rivals Celtic to leapfrog Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team in the league table.
🔥 @roofe with the late winner.🥶 @GlenKamara4 with the skills.👊 @CalvinBassey with the celebration. pic.twitter.com/zMGUYBPjKE— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) March 7, 2022
🔥 @roofe with the late winner.🥶 @GlenKamara4 with the skills.👊 @CalvinBassey with the celebration. pic.twitter.com/zMGUYBPjKE
The home team have been reasonably consistent in the Europa League of late, as they are unbeaten in their last six games in the competition. A 6-4 aggregate defeat of German giants Dortmund in the last-32 was particularly impressive.
The two legs against BVB continued a high-scoring trend for Rangers, as they have now scored at least two goals in three of their last four matches in the competition.
Rangers are also three games unbeaten on home soil in the Europa League, having scored two goals in each of their three unbeaten European matches at Ibrox.
Crvena Zvezda or Red Star Belgrade as they are known to many in Europe, head into this clash 16 games unbeaten in all competitions.
Like their hosts, the Serbian outfit kicked off their campaign in the Champions League but dropped into the Europa League after a play-off round defeat to Sheriff.
Although Red Star have won just one of their last four games in the Europa League, they have also suffered just one defeat in 15 games in European football’s secondary competition.
Their recent games in the Europa League have been tight and low-scoring affairs, with under 2.5 goals scored in their last five matches in the competition.
The visitors are unbeaten in their previous seven away matches in the Europa League, although four of those games have finished in draws.
Forebet predicts that this clash will end in a low-scoring draw, with plenty more drama to come in the second leg in the Serbian capital.