RB Leipzig vs Rangers

Red Bull Arena is the venue as RB Leipzig and Rangers meet in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final tie.

Leipzig come into proceedings with their confidence rocked following an underwhelming 2-1 home defeat to Union Berlin. Domenico Tedesco’s men will be looking to return to winning ways instantaneously and have a recent eye-catching 17-game unbeaten streak to look up to (W13, D4). However, excluding a walkover of Spartak Moscow, ‘Die Roten Bullen’ have picked up just one win in their last six European home outings (D3, L2), courtesy of a 2-1 beating of Manchester City in this season’s Champions League group stages. That said, Leipzig have suffered just one defeat in five home matches in the Europa League knock-out phase (W2, D2), including a pair of high-scoring draws in the last two knock-out rounds. Moreover, they came out 2-0 victors over Celtic in their only previous European home clash against cottish visitors back in the 2018/19 Europa League group stage.

In the meantine, Rangers proved their European credentials with an overwhelming 6-4 aggregate triumph over Bundesliga heavyweights Borussia Dortmund in the opening Europa League knock-out round. Yet, their impressive 4-2 victory at Signal Iduna Park represents Rangers’ solitary success in their last eight European fixtures outside Glasgow (D3, L4), including back-to-back defeats at Red Star Belgrade and Sporting Braga on the last two Europa League travels. Worryingly, the ‘Gers’ have only kept one clean sheet in six competitive away matches, casting doubt on their hopes of reaching a continental showpiece for the first time since 2007/08. The upcoming clash at the Red Bull Arena will mark Rangers’ 50th European encounter against German sides, with their record across the previous 49 meetings perfectly balanced (W17, D15, L17).