Rangers host Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday.
Barry Ferguson’s men are looking to turn around their Ibrox form as they bid to move towards a second final in four years.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the key talking points ahead of the first leg.
Home discomforts
Rangers are in the midst of their worst run of home results after Queen’s Park, St Mirren, Motherwell, Fenerbahce and Hibernian all won at Ibrox. A sixth consecutive home defeat would surely finish their season and the Rangers players need to quickly find a way to deal with the expectations and demands of their supporters.
Jekyll or Hyde?
Interim head coach Ferguson felt it would not be difficult to lift his players after Saturday’s 2-0 defeat by Hibs given their Europa League form has remained consistent. The Light Blues added Fenerbahce to a long list of Europa League conquests in recent years to reach the last eight. They have seen off Nice, Union Saint-Gilloise, FCSB and Malmo this season and the likes of Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Real Betis, Galatasaray, Sparta Prague, Red Star Belgrade, Porto and Braga in previous campaigns, reaching the 2022 final in the process.
Walking a tightrope
Rangers have two key players suspended for the first leg – centre-back John Souttar and midfielder Mohamed Diomande. They also have four players one booking away from a ban – Jefte, Nico Raskin, Connor Barron and Hamza Igamane. The fans are also under pressure to behave after UEFA issued a suspended closure of the Copland Stand as punishment for what it deemed a “racist and/or discriminatory” banner in the previous round.
History repeating?
Athletic Bilbao have been to Ibrox before – at the same stage of one of the precursors of the Europa League. The Basque club lost 4-1 in the Fairs Cup quarter-final first leg in 1969 before Rangers held on for a 4-3 aggregate win. Sir Alex Ferguson, Andy Penman, Swedish winger Orjan Persson and Colin Stein were on target for Rangers, while Bilbao’s Ibrox goal was scored by future Spain manager Javier Clemente, who led Athletic to back-to-back titles in the 1980s during the first of his three spells in charge.
A date with destiny?
Bilbao are looking for more glory after winning the Copa Del Rey for the first time in 40 years and have added motivation to progress given the final will be played at their own San Mames Stadium. Athletic finished second in the Europa League table, only behind Lazio on goal difference, and overcame a first-leg deficit to beat Roma in the last 16. They have twice lost in the final, missing out on the away goals rule against Juventus in the 1977 UEFA Cup final before Marcelo Bielsa’s exciting team went down 3-0 against Atletico Madrid in 2012.
Hard to Beat
Bilbao have only lost to Girona, Barcelona and Atletico in LaLiga this season and sit fourth in the table. Still wedded to their policy of only fielding players reared in the Basque country, Athletic are managed by former player Ernesto Valverde and feature Bilbao-born brothers who represent different national teams – Ghana forward Inaki Williams and one of Spain’s Euro 2024 heroes, Nico Williams. Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon is not expected to play as he makes way for second-choice Julen Agirrezabala in Europe.
