Thursday 20th September 1755hrs Villareal v Rangers Football – Europe – Europa League The Europa League may not be as prestigious as the Champions League but when you look through the winners down the years then you get a sense for how much a quality competition it is. Atletico Madrid were victorious last season and will be hoping to be competing for the Champions League this time around. Our first preview takes us to one of Atleti’s La Liga opponents who play host to what will be Steven Gerrard’s first group stage European game. It’s Villareal against Rangers and a match preview as a well as a selected best betting tip can be read below.
Villareal are perennial competitors in the Europa League and this will be their fifth straight year playing in the tournament. They reached the semi final stage back in 2015/16 and have made it out the group stage in each of the last four campaigns. It’s tremendous consistency and they’ll be looking to continue that run and get their campaign off to a winning start against the Scottish club. It’s coming up for a year in charge for Javi Calleja and although he done well to get them to finish in the European places last season, it’s been a slow start to this campaign for the Yellow Submarine. Sunday’s 1-0 away to Leganes was their first victory of the season having lost to both Real Sociedad and Girona at home whilst drawing with Sevilla away. It’s something of a surprise considering how strong they traditionally are at home and they’ll be looking to rectify that against Rangers. It’s been something of a mixed bag in the Europa League, however, with just two wins in their last seven. Contrast that with what went before which was one defeat in 23 then you get a sense how much of a fortress El Madrigal once was – could Thursday be the start of them returning to that dominance at home?
When Steven Gerrard set his team out for their first round qualifier back in the summer you would have gotten long odds if you thought Rangers would still be competing in the Europa League come September. The Ibrox club have had to make it through four qualification stages to get to this point so already they have surpassed expectations. That won’t be the opinion of Gerrard, though, who will be looking to progress even further. One of this team’s biggest strengths thus far has been their resoluteness in Europe and with very good defensive performances against the likes of Maribor and Osijek, they will be confident that they can deny their opponents again on Thursday. Those defensive qualities were no more on show than when going down to nine men in the final qualifier against UFA. They were able to grind out the result they needed on that occasion and will know it’ll take a similar battling display to get a result they need this time around. A big blow for Gerrard will be the suspension to Alfredo Morelos who has been really effective as a lone striker in Europe thus far.
Villareal v Rangers Betting Tip
These two clubs played against each other 12 years ago in the last 16 of the Champions League when Villareal edged through on away goals. The only thing both Rangers and Villareal will be thinking about on Thursday however is getting their Europa League campaigns off to a positive start. For Villareal you feel that only means a win being at home and being a vastly more experienced team at this level but for the visitors then a draw would be an excellent result for a team who are still very much in their infancy and looking to build on what has been a positive start. Gerrard has made it known, however, that he is targeting qualification from this group which is made up of Rapid Vienna and Spartak Moscow.
Villareal do not possess the stars they did when they last faced off against Rangers but they do have one of their former sons back playing in Santi Cazorla who returned to the club over the summer. They’re a really good technical team with plenty of experience and will be looking to assert their authority. Rangers will have to have all their players performing well in order to get a result but they seem to like the defensive part of the game and with Allan McGregor in nets they have a ‘keeper who has been excellent since returning to the club. I think we should prepare ourselves for a very tight encounter that will see the home team dominate possession and should win, but I doubt it will be by many. You could be adventurous and go for a correct score of a 1-0 or 2-0 win, instead I’m going to play it slightly cautious and back their to be under 2.5 goals in the game.
Selection: Under 2.5 goals 21/20 @ Bet Victor
