Rangers and Benfica get a break from their league challenge to fight for a possible trophy in this Europa League Group Stage fixture.
These are busy days for the home team, as they were in action only four days ago in the Premiership. Thankfully the previous game, versus Aberdeen, was also a home game here at Ibrox Stadium. The away team is better rested.
It's time to recharge all electronic entertainment devices for Benfica, who are travelling more than 2800 kilometers to play this game.
Rangers form and stats
Rangers was eliminated in the 8th finals last season in the Europa League. Bayer Leverkusen was too strong.This match is a Europa League match, and the hometeam has the total statistics 5 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses in this competition. Rangers haven’t lost a league-game in 16 attempts regardless of arena, a great achievement. Their last loss was the fixture versus Hamilton Academical, 267 days ago. Ever since the Hamilton Academical game Rangers has been unbeatable here at Ibrox Stadium producing eight straight wins.
The Rangers supporters enjoyed the previous match, watching their team host Aberdeen in Premiership and win 4-0. Before that game, the 8-0 home victory against Hamilton Academical.
As mentioned above, Rangers "killed" Aberdeen in their previous game. They need to reset completely for this one and beware of complacency.
The home team are moderate favourites in this game. How does Rangers handle that role? We have found one game in our database similar to this one, based on the home odds. The stats for these games are one win, zero draws and zero defeats.
The manager S. Gerrard will start preparations for the next game as soon this is finished, as the hosts are going to Falkirk in only three days.
Benfica form and stats
Benfica was sent out of Europa League in the 16th finals last season.Benfica have six points from their first three away games in the Primeira Liga, meaning two victories and a loss. The mentioned statistics is only from the league, looking at the Europa League stats, they have 2 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses both home and away.
Benfica play their second away game in a row, but can be confident going into this one after the 1-0 victory visiting Paredes. The game before that, in the Primeira Liga, was lost at home, a 2-3 defeat against Sporting Braga.
Benfica are the outsiders in this one, but not by much. Their performance in similar games (being the away team and moderate outsiders) is one win, zero draws and one defeat. From a total of two matches.
There might be some complaints about the fixture list from the Benfica manager J. Pinheiro de Jesus as the team has another away game coming up in only four days, this time against Maritimo.
Benfica create on average more than 2,5 goals per away game (in the league) all by themselves, having scored 8 goals in 3 travels. As opposed to that, Benfica have seen the ball go into their own net 4 times on the road.
Head 2 Head
The most recent history between these sides is the Benfica - Rangers 3-3 played earlier this season.Top Goalscorers
  J. Tavernier 9 goals |   H. Seferović 6 goals |  R. Kent 5 goals |
Rangers missing players
Benfica missing players
| Rangers | Benfica | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 12 | Played | P | 10 | 25 | ||
| 21 | 12 | Won | W | 6 | 17 | ||
| 3 | 0 | Drew | D | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1 | 0 | Lost | L | 3 | 6 | ||
| 66 | 37 | Scored | S | 21 | 60 | ||
| 8 | 1 | Conceded | C | 12 | 31 | ||
| 96% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | ||
| 80% | 92% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 90% | 96% | ||
| 48% | 58% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 70% | 76% | ||
| 36% | 33% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 30% | 40% | ||
| 16% | 8% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 20% | 28% | ||
| 16% | 8% | BTTS | BTTS | 50% | 60% | ||
| 80% | 92% | Clean Sheets | C S | 30% | 32% | ||
| 8% | 0% | Failed to Score | F T | 20% | 8% | ||
| 0 | 0 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 0 | 0 | ||
| 0 | 0 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0.4 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.6 | 1.6 | ||
| 0 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 2 | ||
| 391 | 205 | Total Shots | T S | 149 | 326 | ||
| 145 | 80 | Shots on Target | S O | 58 | 127 | ||
| 46% | 46% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 36% | 40% | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Benfica | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| 2 | Rangers | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| 3 | Lech Poznań | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 3 |
| 4 | Standard Liège | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | -7 | 0 |
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Sporting CP | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 15 | 19 |
| 2 | Benfica | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 15 |
| 3 | Sporting Braga | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| 4 | Porto | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 13 |
| 5 | Nacional | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| 6 | Santa Clara | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 10 |
| 7 | Rio Ave | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| 8 | Vitoria Guimaraes | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | -3 | 10 |
| 9 | Famalicao | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | -3 | 9 |
| 10 | Pacos de Ferreira | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 8 |
| 11 | Moreirense | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | -1 | 8 |
| 12 | Tondela | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | -6 | 8 |
| 13 | Belenenses | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 7 |
| 14 | Maritimo | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 7 |
| 15 | Boavista | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 9 | -5 | 6 |
| 16 | Farense | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 5 |
| 17 | Gil Vicente | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 5 |
| 18 | Portimonense | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | -6 | 4 |