Thursday 29th November 2000hrs Rangers v Villareal Football – Europe – Europa League Group G is shaping up to be the tightest of all the Europa League sections and all four teams are in with a chance of qualifying for the next stage. It’s Villareal who hold the advantage at the top but it’s only a narrow one. The look of the group will have changed by the time these two kick off at 8pm tomorrow night with Spartak Moscow taking on Rapid Vienna earlier in the day but a win for either may see them on the cusp of qualification or potentially guaranteeing progress. It’s all to play for so continue reading for a match preview of Rangers against Villareal with a best betting tip selected.
It was an achievement for Rangers to even reach this group stage having had to negotiate four qualifying rounds and do so with a massive turnover of the squad and – of course – the arrival of a new manager shortly before. Steven Gerrard’s men have performed admirably in the context of all that and with two games left of the group stage they have qualification within their own hands. If they are able to win both at home to Villareal tomorrow and then away to Rapid Vienna in a fortnight’s time then they know the will have assured themselves of a place in the last 16. Their record thus far has been a solitary win at home to Rapid, draws away to Villareal and at home to Spartak Moscow, before losing to the Russians in a thrilling game three weeks ago. Gerrard may well be kicking himself that his team are not in a better position but they have a fighting chance. They’ve yet to taste defeat at home in the Europa League this season, winning five and drawing two, but this is probably going to be their biggest test to date.
Villareal are synonymous with the Europa League and the find themselves in contention to qualify from the group stage once again. The Yellow Submarine, as they’re known, have made the knockout stage for the past four seasons but they would probably have hoped (even expected) to have amassed more points by this stage of the group considering the relative strength of it. Villareal are unbeaten in their four games so far, but their only win came against Rapid on matchday three when running out 5-0 winners but were held to a goalless stalemate at home to the Austrians next time out. High scoring draws against Rangers and Spartak. Javi Calleja has been in charge for little over a year now and whilst they are in pole position in Europe, they are struggling in La Liga. Saturday’s win over Real Betis was just their third league win of the campaign and they are only three points above the relegation zone so their need for points in Spain is obvious – but the coach has made it clear he wants progression from the Europa League as well. They have a chance to do that by getting an away win tomorrow.
Rangers v Villareal Betting Tip
The first meeting between these teams on matchday one was an entertaining encounter which ended 2-2. Villareal took the lead on both occasions but their opponents showed great desire to equalise twice and it got their group stage campaign off to a great start. There’s no doubt that the Spaniards possessed more quality and could easily have had the game sealed had they taken their chances but they will travel to Glasgow knowing that they’ll be met with a team who can cause them problems and will be a threat on the counter.
I’ve alluded to Rangers good home form in the competition so far but this is another step up, in spite of how Villareal have performed domestically. The visitors are searching for their first away win in the Europa League this term but their recent record has been strong with only one defeat on their travels in this competition from their last 10 games. If they can find that win and there is a win for either Spartak or Rapid in the other match in this group, then they will be guaranteed of qualification. Rangers cannot qualify tomorrow evening but they can certainly put one foot in the next stage with a win.
Six of Villareal’s last 10 away games in the Europa League have seen both teams scoring whilst four of Rangers last matches in the competition have had similar. I think we could see a repeat of the first match between these two and both teams finding the back of the net.
Selection: Both teams to score 17/20 @ William Hill
