We are about to witness one of the big surprises in the 1/16 finals of the Europa League. Rangers have two goals ahead of the first meeting with Borussia Dortmund, and they have yet to host a home in which they simply should not lose more than a goal. A week ago, the “Teddy Bears” showed great success in front of goal and at one point led 4: 1, but Rafa Guerrero kept the hopes of “Be Fau Be” alive for the rematch with another goal in the door of the guests from Scotland.
After the great success in Germany, however, Rangers stepped wrong in the Scottish Premiership. The team finished 1: 1 as a guest of Dundee United. Thus, with only two victories in the last five rounds of the championship, the Rangers are already three points behind the leader Celtic. Borussia Dortmund defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach 6-0, which once again proved how unpredictable the performances of the “Yellow-Blacks” this season.
Rangers performed relatively well as hosts in the autumn of the tournament, beating Brondby and Sparta Prague, but losing to Lyon in the first round. In the Champions League, the guest Borussia Dortmund defeated only the outsider Besiktas and lost heavily to Ajax and Sporting, which was the main reason for their elimination from the tournament of the rich.
In general, Dortmund had difficulties as a guest in Germany, although with three consecutive victories in the Bundesliga. There were four losses outside, and the team is less productive and consequently allows a lot of goals. I’m not sure to what extent the guests will be motivated in search of a turnaround if they fail to reach an early goal in the match.
Holland is still absent, and this is not the only staffing problem for Marco Rose. Maybe a new successful match awaits us, as I think that the hosts already have experience with the breakthroughs in the defense of their opponent and will not allow defeat on their own ground. Dortmund failed to score the first goal of the match in their last four Europa League matches, and if the trend continues today, I do not think a turnaround is possible.
