Borussia Dortmund vs Rangers

Borussia Dortmund are set to entertain Rangers at the Signal Iduna Park in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League last-32 tie.

Borussia Dortmund experienced a thoroughly underwhelming Champions League group stage campaign, finishing third in Group C behind Ajax and Sporting Lisbon. A brace of three-goal margin defeats to Ajax, coupled with a 3-1 loss at Sporting on Matchday 5, shifted ‘Die Borussen’ to the Europa League knock-outs for the first time since the 2017/18 season. Already out of the DFB-Pokal and lagging six points behind Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich, Dortmund’s only realistic hopes of landing a piece of silverware are tied to the Europa League. The German heavyweights should feel confident about their prospects against Rangers after losing just two of their last ten Europa League knock-out fixtures on home turf (W5, D3). Moreover, before falling to a thumping 5-2 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in their most recent home outing, Marco Rose’s men had won three consecutive matches at the Signal Iduna Park by an aggregate score of 13-1.

In the meantime, Rangers blew hot and cold in Europa League Group A (W2, D2, L2) but still managed to secure a runner-up finish by the skin of their teeth, beating Sparta Prague to a coveted second place by a single point. However, the ‘Gers’ are feeling seemingly comfortable in European competition knock-outs as they’ve won ten of their last 14 two-legged ties. Additionally, only three times have they lost the first leg across those 14 engagements, coming from behind to go through on two of those occasions. Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men have picked themselves up from a heartbreaking 3-0 loss to arch-rivals Celtic in the latest installment of the famed Old Firm, moving on to win three consecutive matches in all competitions by an aggregate score of 10-0.