Antwerp have established themselves as one of Belgium’s better sides in recent seasons and the club find themselves sitting second in the First Division A table following a 1-1 draw at Standard Liege on Sunday.
Rangers look set to end Celtic’s dominant reign of the Scottish Premiership this season as they sit 18pts clear of their fierce rivals following a 1-0 win over Kilmarnock at the weekend.
These two sides have never met before, but we saw just what a formidable opponent Antwerp can be as they were the only side to beat Tottenham in Group J.
The Belgian side had to settle for second spot in the group stage, but only finished a point behind Spurs. Rangers impressed in Group D, finishing ahead of Benfica, Standard Liege and Lech Poznan to claim the top spot without losing a single match.
Both of these teams are in good form right now but with four wins and two draws from their last six outings it’s Rangers that head into the 1st leg as the form favourites.
Antwerp have won four, drawn one and lost one of their last six matches, but that defeat arrived away from home against the top side in the country, Club Brugge.
Under 2.5 goals have been scored in five of Ranger’s last six matches, while Antwerp’s last game also featured fewer than three goals.
A close and competitive 90-minutes could well be on the cards this Thursday, as both teams will be desperate not to make a mistake and give any goals away cheaply.
Dieumerci Mbokani is back in training, but Faris Haroun, Jean Butez and Sander Coopman look set to miss the 1st leg through injury. Ranger’s centre-back Nikola Katic is out with an ACL injury and won’t make the trip to Belgium this week.
With the home advantage and having shown their ability to grind out results in their own backyard against British opposition already this season, Antwerp are likely to claim a 1-0 win on Thursday. Rangers don’t concede many goals and will believe that they can overturn a 1-0 deficit in the reverse fixture.