It starts from 1-0 for the Germans, but at home the Scots have never lost in the knockout stage
It’s time for verdicts in the Europa League. Rangers and Leipzig compete for access to the final: the match at Ibrox Stadium is scheduled for Thursday at 21. After the 1-0 by the Germans in the first leg, van Bronckhorst’s team will host their opponents for the first time. The Scottish club have not won any of their last three home games against German sides (1N, 2P): the last one came against Werder Bremen in March 2008.
LATEST RESULTS
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Rangers are engaged in the playoffs of the Scottish league. The team faced Celtic in the Old Firm last weekend: 1-1 in the 90th minute, with Jota and Sakala scoring. Van Bronckhorst’s men are second in the standings at -6 from Postecoglou’s side and have three matches left in the season. The first leg at the Red Bull Arena ended 1-0 for the hosts: Angeliño’s goal was decisive. Leipzig lost their last Bundesliga match against Borussia M’Gladbach and are currently fifth in the standings with 54 points in the middle of Europe. It is the second consecutive knockout after the match against Union Berlin. Before this negative moment, the most recent defeat of the German side came against Bayern Munich on February 5 (3-2).
PREVIOUS
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The only game played on Scottish soil by Leipzig is the one they lost against Celtic in the group stage of the 2018/19 Champions League. Van Bronckhorst’s team must overturn the 1-0 first leg, since the Europa League has existed only 4 teams out of 17 have overturned the defeat suffered in the first leg semi-final and reached the final. On each of these occasions the club had lost their first match by just one goal difference (the last to do so was Liverpool against Villarreal in the 2015/16 semi-final).
STATISTICS
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Leipzig won the first leg at the Red Bull Arena and made 10 shots on goal, including Angeliño’s decisive one in the 85th minute. The Germans have never kicked so few since they went down to the Europa League. No better than the Rangers who have had six chances in 300 minutes played in the competition. The Scots reached the semi-final of a European competition for the first time since April 2008, when they challenged Fiorentina in the semi-final of the Uefa Cup. The team reached the final in four of the previous five semifinals (1961, 1967 and 1972 Cup Winners’ Cup and 2008 Uefa Cup). Having reached the semifinal for the first time in its history, Leipzig will also try to reach the first European final.
May 3 – 4:38 pm
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