Kris

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⚽️ THE BIG MATCH PRE READ⚽️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (4 minutes reading time) @RangersFC🔵 fans - it's your turn to continue adding coefficient points to Scotland’s total and to secure your EL progression with your penultimate group stage match – against Aris Limassol🇨🇾 with a 20:00 kick off live on TNT Sports 3! ----- LAST MATCHDAY 🏡 It’s the second home European match for new manager Philippe Clement🇧🇪, following on from what turned out to be a nervy 2-1 victory over Sparta Prague🇨🇿 2 weeks ago 🪇 Prague🇨🇿 started very poorly and were completely rattled by the speed of Rangers🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 early attacking play as they scored twice in the opening 20 minutes. 💧 There was a natural drop off in the second half and Prague🇨🇿 managed to pull one back, but the Gers held out for a vital victory which helped both Rangers🔵 & Scotland’s Coefficient's chances of a successful European season ----- ----- PERMUTATIONS 🥈 A win tonight would guarantee Rangers🔵 a top 2 finish before they end the campaign in the graveyard of Scottish European trophy dreams, also known as Seville🇪🇸 🤞 In Prague, Real Betis🇪🇸 dropping points tonight would be most welcome as it would mean a Rangers win tonight + draw in Spain would be enough to win the group – and avoid the knockout round tie against a Champions League dropdown team 2⃣ If Real Betis🇪🇸 win tonight then Rangers🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 would need two wins to finish in 1st place 🦮 Aris🇨🇾 are the weakest team in the group and visit Ibrox as longshot underdogs at 9/1, but it would be remiss of me not to lay out what happens if Rangers DON’T win tonight: 🎄 A draw guarantees Rangers🔵 post Christmas football (at least Conference League) as it would mean Rangers could only be caught by Sparta🇨🇿 4⃣ Were Prague🇨🇿 to pick up 4 points in their last 2 games and Rangers drew tonight then lost in Betis🇪🇸 – then Real Betis & Prague would progress in the EL with Rangers finishing 3rd 🚪 If Rangers were to LOSE tonight then they could still finish in last position & drop through the European exit door - but only if Prague🇨🇿 also beat Betis🇪🇸 tonight ----- RANGERS 🌍 Amidst Rangers' indifferent start to the season domestically, they have done well in the Europa League, and taking 4 points from the double header with Prague🇨🇿 was critical to their progression 😲 The shock loss to @ArisLimassol was a terrible performance and they deserved to lose – however they had just sacked Michael Beale and were severely hit by injuries. There’s a new boss in town and slowly they are seeing the return of some injured players, with Rabbi Matondo🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 the latest to make his comeback off the bench at Pittodrie on Sunday 🤕 Despite some injury good news, Rangers🔵 are missing both centre backs from the weekend with Balogun🇳🇬 not included in the 22 man squad & Goldson🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 serving a frustrating suspension - for a booking for a foul that was never actually given ⛳️ This was due to the linesman following the new guidance of delaying flagging for an offside when Prague🇨🇿 were breaking at Ibrox. Goldson committed a foul and the ref booked him for it – but as the linesman then flagged for an obvious offside, play restarted with a Rangers🔵 free kick for offside rather than a Sparta🇨🇿 free kick for the foul 🪑 Souttar🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 & King🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 were on the bench at the weekend so it will likely be the two Scots that start at centre back - assuming Davies remains out 🚫 Raskin🇧🇪 Jack🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 & Wright🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 will likely all miss the game so there are opportunities for starts for the likes of Cifuentes🇪🇨 Matondo🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 & McCausland ✅ Clement🇧🇪 continued his unbeaten start at the weekend, with a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie on a day when it looked like they would never score 📺 It took a 90th minute penalty, awarded after a VAR intervention following stupidity from Gartenmann of Aberdeen🔴 – but the draw was probably a fair result. Aberdeen were much better in the first half but Rangers🔵 improved in the second, hitting the bar twice and missing some glaring headed opportunities ✂️ They’ll be disappointed not to cut the gap on Celtic🍀 after the Champions slipped up at home the day before, and critics of this Rangers🔵 team will point to this as yet more evidence of them not having the required quality & mentality to capitalise on any rare Celtic slips to deliver a proper title race 🆙 However things are still looking up as Clement🇧🇪 remains unbeaten with 6 wins & 2 draws in his first month or so, as they move in to a testing period of 11 games before the winter break in under 5 weeks’ time 🏟️ A look at Rangers🔵 home form in the Europa League only, shows that they have undoubtedly turned it into a fortress with a 72% win rate (group stage onwards in bold): ----- ------ 3⃣ Only 3 losses in 33 home European games since their return to the European stage in 2017 truly is fantastic and should give the players, and the fans, real belief that they'll qualify tonight ----- ARIS LIMASSOL 🇨🇾 It is the third time a Cypriot team has visited Ibrox, with Anorthosis Famagusta visiting in 1995 and 2005, losing both games without scoring 🖼️ Pictured is three time Ballon d'Or nominee Brian Laudrup🇩🇰 leaving a player on the floor in his wake, a common sight for those that watched Scottish football in the 1990s ----- ----- 🇨🇾 Aris are first time Cypriot champions, and as Cyprus were the 21st ranked league, the Champions enter in CL QR2, where they saw off Bate Borisov 🇧🇾with an impressive 11-5 aggregate victory 6⃣ They were eliminated from the CL by Raków 🇵🇱before reaching their first ever group stage by beating Slovan Bratislava 🇸🇰7-4 on aggregate – scoring 6 at home for the second time in Europe this season 3⃣ They are bottom of the group with only 3 points after they narrowly lost 3-2 to Prague🇨🇿 in the opening match, humiliated Rangers🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 2-1 in Cyprus before losing 1-0 and 4-1 to Real Betis🇪🇸 in their double header 🔝 Domestically, they are still on track to make it two in a row as they regained top spot in the league after 12 matches after beating APOEL 1-0 at the weekend. 🩼 Experienced striker Yannick Gomis has 10 goals in 19 games this season for Aris🇨🇾 but luckily for Rangers it looks like he could still be injured 💰 Each victory in the Europa League is worth €630k and a draw is worth €210k to Rangers, while a win is worth 0.4 coefficient points to Scotland's total, with a draw worth 0.2 💰 However with the extra bonus coefficient points & prize money on offer for progression, a win tonight will add at least €1.68m & 0.8 coefficient points (could rise further if they win the group or win their knockout round) ----- ----- Prediction: Rangers🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿4-1 🇨🇾Aris Aris have lost their last two away games 4-1 & Rangers have hit 3 or more goals in 11 home European games since 2018 - I’m predicting the return of Matondo will see them run riot tonight! GOOD LUCK RANGERS! 🔵 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

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