Rangers have one foot in the Europa League quarter finals after their 3-1 win away to Fenerbahce last week. Goals from Cyriel Dessers and two from Vaclav Cerny have Rangers in front in the tie, with only Alexander Djiku’s equaliser giving the Turkish side any real hope. Indeed, Cyriel Dessers having the ball in the net twice more but ruled out for the tightest of offsides, this tie would be over if Arsene Wenger’s offside rule were in play this season!
Unfortunately, the bawhair offside rule still exists and so Rangers will need to settle for a two goal lead. Can Jose Mourinho’s side overturn that at Ibrox? That remains to be seen, but nothing in the first leg really suggested it would be the case.
Ibrox is mostly a fortress on European nights for Rangers, although the 4-1 defeat against Lyon earlier in this campaign would be the kind of scoreline that Fenerbahce would need to turn around this tie in their favour.
That seems unlikely though, as Fenerbahce would need to do considerably better than any Turkish side has managed at Ibrox previously.
Ankaragucu were the first Turkish side to visit Ibrox, in the 1973/74 Cup Winners Cup first round. Their 4-0 defeat was the second part of a 6-0 aggregate loss to Rangers. John Greig got the first two goals, with Derek Johnstone adding a third before half time and Alex O’Hara getting the fourth in the second half.
Galatasaray were the next visitors in the 2000/01 Champions League group stage. The 0-0 draw on match day four was ultimately just enough for the Turkish side to finish ahead of Rangers in second place on the head to head having edged them out in the win on match day three that I mentioned last week.
The 2001/02 visit of Fenerbahce to Ibrox came in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. The goalless draw in that game meant the winner in Turkey would progress to the group stage, which as I mentioned last week went Fenerbahce’s way.
When Bursaspor visited Ibrox in the 2010/11 Champions League group stages, Rangers were 1-0 winners on match day two. Steven Naismith getting the only goal of the game midway through the first half. Apologies for the shaky cam here.
As mentioned last week, the most recent visitors to Ibrox were Galatasaray in the 2020/21 Europa League playoff round. The 2-1 win for Rangers in the one off tie was enough to send them through the group stages. Scott Arfield and James Tavernier with the second half goals, Marcao making it a bit more tense with a couple of minutes left to play.
When Rangers take a two goal lead from the away leg into the home leg, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that they usually progress. I’ve already mentioned Ankaragucu for example.
In the 1968/69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup third round they led 2-0 against DWS of the Netherlands and won 2-1 at Ibrox. No footage of this one.
In the 1998/99 UEFA Cup first round, they beat Shelbourne 5-3 in… eh… “Ireland” (Merseyside, England actually) before winning 2-0 at Ibrox.
In the 2019/20 Europa League third qualifying round, they beat Midtjylland 4-2 in Denmark before winning 3-1 at Ibrox.
In the 2021/22 Europa League knockout round, they beat Borussia Dortmund 4-2 in Germany before a 2-2 draw at Ibrox. This is the only one of the five where Rangers didn’t win the second leg too.
As for Fenerbahce, they usually lose the away leg when they lose the home leg, regardless of which one comes first in the tie. Of the twenty three ties where they’ve lost the home leg they’ve lost the away leg in all but five of those they’ve lost the away leg too. Four of those remaining were draws in the away leg.
The only exception was in the 2023/24 Conference League round of sixteen where they lost 1-0 to Union St Gilloise in Turkey. But since they were already 3-0 up from the first leg in Belgium, it didn’t matter so much and so isn’t even like this current scenario as they were away first.
Without wishing to get too far ahead of ourselves here, it’s worth noting that Roma are 2-1 up against Athletic Bilbao. The winner of that tie will face the winner of Rangers and Fenerbahce next month. Their second leg is one of the early kick offs tonight so it’s TNT Sports 5 at 5.45pm oor time if you’re interested.
Not much has changed since last week in terms of the league with neither team playing at the weekend and the Scottish Premiership not having any games due to the Scottish Cup. Fenerbahce are still second, but with leaders Galatasaray winning at the weekend they are now seven points behind, albeit with a game in hand.
Good luck to Rangers tonight! Kick off at Ibrox is at 8pm and it’s live on TNT Sports 2.
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