The Battle for the Bye

Not content with having one Battle of Britain in this season’s Europa League, the fixture computer kindly decided we needed two. Last time out, Rangers drew 1-1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur.

Now on match day seven, Rangers travel to Manchester United for an 8pm kick off live on TNT Sports 1. Interestingly, United are one of only seven teams currently ahead of Rangers in the table.

Yes, Rangers are currently occupying the last of the places which would see them get a bye through to the last sixteen. There’s still work to do there if they want to hang onto it, but a win tonight at Old Trafford would go a long way to securing that with a home game against Union St Gilloise still to come.

With eleven points already on the board, Rangers are pretty much guaranteed to be in the knockout stages already. Yes, they are only four points ahead of twenty fifth placed Braga, but all the teams between Rangers and Braga can’t possibly win their remaining matches to overhaul that deficit. So the remaining two games are really about trying to secure the best possible finish, ideally in that top eight bracket.

Rangers opened their campaign with a 2-0 win away to Malmo.

The 4-1 defeat at home to Lyon hasn’t hurt them too much as things stand.

Especially thanks to wins like the 4-0 over FCSB.

And the 1-1 draw away to Olympiakos.

But definitely the 4-1 win away to Nice.

Manchester United started out with a 1-1 draw at home against FC Twente.

Then had a 3-3 draw away to Porto.

A third consecutive draw came with a 1-1 away to Fenerbahce.

But it’s been three wins since then. First was the 2-0 win at home against PAOK Thessaloniki.

Then a 3-2 win at home over Bodo/Glimt in what was Ruben Amorim’s debut as manager at United.

Last time out was a 2-1 win away to Viktoria Plzen.

As you might remember from the blog on the Tottenham game, Rangers have played a few English sides over the years, and Manchester United more than once. But since that blog covered the home games, this one gets to cover the away games!

We’ll start with the previous games against Manchester United. Both meetings came in the Champions League group stages. The first in 2003/04 was a 3-0 win for United.

The second in the 2010/11 Champions League was a goalless draw.

Away from Manchester United, Rangers’ 1960/61 Cup Winners’ Cup semi final against Wolverhampton Wanderers was a 1-1 draw in England. But as noted previously, Rangers made it through to the inaugural final of the competition thanks to the first leg 2-0 win at Ibrox. Still can’t find any footage though.

Next up was Leeds United in the 1967/68 Inter-Cities Fairs’ Cup quarter final. Unfortunately for Rangers, the 2-0 defeat at Elland Road was what knocked them out as the Ibrox game was goalless. It was a similar story the following season against Newcastle United, with a 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park being the difference given the 0-0 draw at Ibrox. No footage of these either.

The next one does have footage though. Rangers beat Leeds United 2-1 both home and away in the 1992/93 Champions League second round to make it into the second ever group stage of the competition, and the first with the new Champions League branding.

Most recently, Rangers last visited England in the 2022/23 Champions League group stage when they took over Liverpool. The game at Ibrox is probably more noteworthy given the scoreline, but the game at Anfield was a 2-0 defeat.

Aside from Rangers, Manchester United have hosted other Scottish teams on three other occasions. The first was Dundee United in the 1984/85 UEFA Cup third round. The game at Old Trafford was a 2-2 draw, with the English United winning 3-2 at Tannadice in the second leg to progress.

The other two came against Celtic in the Champions League group stages. In 2006/07, United came out on top with a 3-2 win.

Two years later it was more straight forward for United as they won 3-0. But I can’t find footage of that one. I swear there’s a hole around this period where UEFA make it hard to get footage anywhere!

Manchester United are currently thirteenth in the English Premier League, twenty four points behind leaders Liverpool having played a game more. On Sunday they lost 3-1 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion. This coming Sunday they go to Fulham.

Rangers are currently second in the Scottish Premiership, thirteen points behind leaders Celtic after twenty three games. On Sunday they beat Fraserburgh 5-0 at home in the Scottish Cup. This coming Sunday they go to Dundee United in the league.

With both teams looking to finish in the top eight, a good result here for either team could be crucial. United might have home advantage, and are unbeaten in the competition so far, but Rangers have an excellent away record so far – somewhat flying in the face of their domestic record. Mind you, the domestic record of United isn’t great either, so maybe they’re both avoiding that in Europe for now.

Good luck to Rangers tonight!