RANGERS return to Germany to play their seventh European semi-final on Thursday and the Ibrox side will look to continue a stunning run at RB Leipzig.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side have excelled in the Europa League this season. They have already eliminated a Borussia Dortmund side nine points better off than Leipzig, as well as the likes of highly-regarded Red Star Belgrade and Braga.
They were handed an additional day of rest for the first leg and comfortably defeated Motherwell even with ten men – while RB Leipzig were losing their first game for 16 matches with a surprise home defeat to Union Berlin…just days after they defeated them in the German Cup semi-final.
Leipzig had been going great guns and were exceptional when they went to Italy and beat Atalanta in the quarter-finals, but they have sluggish and lacked creativity in both games against Union. The talk in Germany is of them hitting a wall.
However, Rangers will travel to Germany without three massive players for them. Striker Alfredo Morelos, his replacement Kemar Roofe and midfielder Aaron Ramsey are all out. However, the hosts are missing the suspended trio of midfielder Kevin Kampl, and defenders Willi Orban and Mohamed Simakan.
Van Bronckhorst must decide whether to let Fashion Sakala lead the line despite looking out his depth away to Braga or play a false No.9.
How the bookies view it
The hosts are huge favourites with SBK's 5/12 the exception. RB are around the 1/3 mark generally. Rangers are a huge 17/2 with BetVictor, with the draw 4/1 with UniBet.
RB Leipzig are 2/7 to qualify with Betfred and Rangers are 4/1 with bet365.
Recent head to heads
While never facing each other competitively, Rangers were invited over to Saxony for a mid-season friendly five years ago, where RB Leipzig crushed them 4-0 as can be seen below.
Players to watch
Former PSG star Christopher Nkunku has been attracting the interest of Europe's elite this season after a fantastic return of 30 goals. He is 11/8 with SBK to score.
James Tavernier scored home and away against Dortmund and netted against Red Star and Braga too. He of course takes penalties and will have plenty of supporters at 17/2 with Coral to score at the Red Bull Arena.
Anything else catch the eye?
Bookies seem to have written Rangers off here, but they are carrying determination, momentum and a degree of luck in this tournament and they can give themselves a huge advantage here by avoiding defeat, with the double chance of 28/13 with 10Bet.
There's no doubt that Domenico Tedesco's side have plenty of quality, but they are happy to allow the opposition plenty of the ball and as long as Rangers don't inexplicably sit back, which they are unlikely to do, they will find joy on the attack. Bet365's 11/10 on Rangers scoring before the 79th minute is begging to be backed even without Morelos and Roofe.
Rangers won six corners each in the away legs of Dortmund and Braga. With the space on the flanks RB give teams, they can get plenty here too. For now, the over 3.5 corners at 11/10 with bet365 looks solid.
This UEFA Europa League match between RB Leipzig and Rangers will be played on Apr 28, 2022 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best RB Leipzig vs Rangers prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
