The most successful clubs in Scotland and Portugal will both aim to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League when they renew hostilities at Ibrox on Thursday.
Last week, Rangers held Benfica to a 2-2 draw in Lisbon, despite the hosts racking up 68% possession and 24 shots during the first leg.
Each of the three previous meetings have ended in a draw, with over 3.5 goals scored on every occasion. Read on to discover what Forebet’s algorithm predicts this time around.
🔜 @EuropaLeague.⏰ Full training video coming this afternoon.#UEL pic.twitter.com/aH4BU37hDc— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) March 13, 2024
🔜 @EuropaLeague.⏰ Full training video coming this afternoon.#UEL pic.twitter.com/aH4BU37hDc
Rangers head into Thursday’s decider on the back of a 2-0 victory over Hibernian in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals, registering 65% possession and 20 shots away from home.
The Gers have now won 12 of their last 14 matches across all competitions, with 19 victories coming in their previous 22 encounters.
After failing to qualify for the Champions League at the start of the season, Rangers enjoyed a strong group stage in the Europa League, recording three wins, two draws and one loss.
Following last week’s 2-2 draw, the Scottish outfit have scored 10 goals in seven Europa League games this term, keeping only two clean sheets in the process.
Meanwhile, Benfica returned to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Estoril Praia last weekend, racking up 65% possession and 14 shots on home soil.
The Eagles entered Sunday’s clash on a three-game winless run, with a 2-1 defeat against Sporting and a 5-0 thrashing to Porto preceding the first-leg draw.
Benfica began their campaign in the Champions League but lost four of their six group games, failing to score a single goal in their opening three outings.
However, the Portuguese giants managed to keep their European journey alive with a 2-1 aggregate victory over Toulouse in the Europa League knockout play-offs.
Head-to-head: If the three previous meetings between Rangers and Benfica are anything to go by, Thursday’s showdown will likely be a high-scoring draw.
The two sides played out 3-3 and 2-2 draws during the 2020-21 Europa League campaign before sharing another 2-2 draw in the first leg of this tie.
Team news: The hosts will be without injured quartet Todd Cantwell, Kieran Dowell, Abdallah Sima and Danilo for the second leg, while Oscar Cortes is a doubt.
As for the visitors, they are still without long-term injury absentee Juan Bernat, who has not featured since November due to a serious muscle issue.
The second leg looks destined to be another high-scoring thriller between two evenly-matched teams, so we could see this tie go the distance.
Forebet predicts that Rangers and Benfica will both score over 1.5 goals at Ibrox, meaning extra-time and/or penalties will be required to determine the winner.