Rangers vs Slavia Prague prediction, preview, team news and more | UEFA Europa League 2020-21
With their domestic league title already sealed, Rangers host Slavia Prague in the second leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie at Ibrox on Thursday.
The Scottish club have their sights firmly set on delivering their best European performance since Steven Gerrard took over in 2018.
They are looking to do better than last season's effort when they bowed out at this stage of the competition.
Rangers will consider themselves to be slightly better placed in this tie, with the first leg in Prague last week finishing 1-1.
Nicolae Stanciu scored a sensational goal to give Slavia an early lead in that game, with the Czech side dominating the first half. However, through a set-piece, Filip Helander pulled one back for Rangers.
From that point onwards, Gerrard's men took charge of that game, but couldn't find that all-important winner.
Rangers have had a week's rest since the first leg, but Slavia have played a league game in between.
That game was a comfortable 3-0 win over Mlada Boleslav. The Czech giants will now travel to the United Kingdom aiming to cause a second upset in a few weeks.
In the round of 32, after a drawn first leg, they beat Leicester City 2-0 at the King Power Stadium to set up this tie against Rangers.
Rangers vs Slavia Prague Head-to-Head
This will be the second competitive game played between Rangers and Slavia Prague, after the first leg last week which finished 1-1.
Rangers form guide: D-W-W-W-W
Slavia Prague form guide: W-D-W-W-W
Rangers vs Slavia Prague Team News
Rangers
Captain James Tavernier is still out with a knee injury, with Nathan Patterson expected to continue at right-back. Gerrard also confirmed that Ryan Jack is unlikely to start this game, and is a doubt to even make the bench.
Leon Balogun is back from suspension, but Helander is likely to continue partnering Connor Goldson at the heart of the Rangers defense.
Injured: James Tavernier, Kemar Roofe, Ryan Jack
Suspended: None
Slavia Prague
There are no known injury or suspension concerns for Slavia Prague at the moment.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Rangers vs Slavia Prague Predicted XIs
Rangers Predicted XI (4-3-3): Allan McGregor; Nathan Patterson, Connor Goldson, Filip Helander, Borna Barisic; Steven Davis, Glen Kamara, Joe Aribo; Ianis Hagi, Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent
Slavia Prague Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Ondrej Kolar; Alexander Bah, Ondrej Kudela, Simon Deli, Oscar Dorley; Jakub Hromada, Lukas Provod; Abdallah Sima, Nicolae Stanciu, Peter Olayinka; Jan Kuchta
Rangers vs Slavia Prague Prediction
The first leg was a tight contest in which the pendulum did keep swinging from one side to another. Keeping that in mind, this is going to be another difficult contest to predict.
However, in familiar surroundings, we are predicting that Rangers will get the job done.
Prediction: Rangers 2-1 Slavia Prague