RB Leipzig vs Rangers in the Europa League on Apr 28. 2022 - Odds & Prediction

Rangers may have that win against Dortmund on their away record, but generally speaking, Gio van Bronckhorst’s side aren’t the best of travelers.

The Scottish Premiership title holders (for now) are without an away clean sheet in this competition since a 0-0 draw in Europa League qualifying against Alashkert, in a run that now stands at six games.

The Gers have scored in four of those games, though, including in Dortmund and against the tricky duo of Lyon and Red Star Belgrade, so we think they’ll find the net against a Leipzig side that haven’t kept a single side out in five European games at home this season.

But scoring against Leipzig and beating them are two very different things. Domenico Tedesco’s side haven’t lost at the Red Bull Arena since before Christmas and have scored at least twice in seven of their last ten at home.

So, with Rangers struggling for away clean sheets and Leipzig not the most robust defensive unit in the world, we think we might see some goals here. That said, Leipzig should be too strong over the course of 90 minutes, so a Leipzig Win and Both Teams to Score looks a good bet to us at 9/4 (Coral), as well available with most of the major sports betting sites.

In the Bundesliga, Leipzig have a three-point cushion over fifth-placed Freiburg in the race for a Champions League spot, so even if they fluff their lines in the Europa League, they should still find their way into elite European competition next season.

But they’ve hit an excellent patch of form at just the right time. Only Bayern Munich have beaten this side since mid-December, during a 15-game run that has seen them score their customary hatful of goals.

They’re rightly favourites to lift the Europa League title and much of that is down to the form of Frenchman Christopher Nkunku, who has a stunning 49 goal contributions from 45 games this season, including ten goals from ten matches across the Champions League and Europa League.

Despite finding themselves in the semi-finals of the Europa League, the success and failure of this season is very much in the balance for Rangers.

That’s because they sit six points behind bitter rivals Celtic in the Scottish Premiership title race, and Gers fans simply won’t allow their side to give up a title race to prioritise glory on the continent, so the pressure remains on a manager who is still yet to fully convince in Glasgow.

And although their away record isn’t great in this competition, they don’t tend to get too much of a hiding. Even just a one-goal defeat here would give them hope that the Ibrox crowd can get them right back into this contest, but anything more than that and the tie could well be beyond them.

The Red Bull Arena is the largest football stadium in the former East Germany, with a capacity of just over 47,000.

And having scored 38 goals from 15 league games at the stadium this season, only Dortmund and Bayern have outscored Leipzig on their own patches.

Over 180 minutes, you have to fancy a Leipzig side that has a Champions League-ready squad and a handful of players in fantastic form.

Rangers will certainly make life difficult but not many sides keep RB out, so if the Glaswegians can’t keep the score down in the first half of this tie, they may leave themselves with too much work to do back home.