Scottish giants Rangers travel to the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon to face Portuguese outfit Benfica in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie on Thursday night.
Neither side could be separated the last time that they locked horns in the 2020-21 group stage, as they played out a 2-2 draw in Glasgow and a 3-3 draw in Lisbon.
Match preview
Benfica's preparations for Thursday's contest have been far from ideal, after they followed up a 2-1 first-leg loss at Sporting Lisbon in the Taca de Liga semi-finals with a 5-0 pummelling from Porto in the Primeira Liga on Sunday – the joint-second heaviest defeat in their history.
The Eagles were three goals down before Nicolas Otamendi was sent off just after the hour mark for a second bookable offence; strikes from Pepe and Danny Namaso then rubbed salt into Benfica's wounds as bitter rivals Porto celebrated their joint-biggest ever league victory in O Classico.
Benfica president Rui Costa was forced to back under-fire manager Roger Schmidt after he refused to apologise to the club's outranged supporters for the calamitous result, which has seen the reigning champions slip to second in the Primeira Liga table, one point behind new leaders Sporting who have a game in hand.
Before seeking to make amends in their next top-flight fixture at home to relegation-threatened Estoril on Sunday, Benfica must first turn their attention to the Europa League, as they bid to reach the quarter-finals of a major European competition for the third successive season, after reaching the last eight of the Champions League in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns.
Benfica will welcome a return to the Estadio da Luz where they have remarkably never lost a home match in the Europa League, winning 21 and drawing six of their 27 matches – the most any team has ever played without losing in the competition.
Like Benfica, Rangers head into Thursday's Europa League fixture on the back of a domestic defeat after they were surprisingly beaten 2-1 at home to Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday.
Captain James Tavernier converted a 60th-minute penalty to cancel out an early first-half opener from Theo Blair, but the Steelmen has the last laugh as Dan Casey netted what proved to be the winning goal on the 75-minute mark, condemning the Gers to just their second defeat in 29 games since the arrival of manager Philippe Clement.
Despite suffering their first defeat of 2024, Rangers remain two points clear at the Premiership summit after rivals Celtic were beaten 2-0 at Hearts on Sunday. The Gers face both Dundee and Hibernian before locking horns with Celtic in the latest instalment of the Old Firm derby in early April, but their focus is now firmly on the Europa League as they bid to keep their treble hopes alive.
Rangers, who are gearing up for their first European knockout match since losing the 2021-22 Europa League final to Eintracht Frankfurt, can be confident of success on Thursday as they have only lost one of their last seven European trips to Portugal.
Clement believes that his Gers side "can beat everybody" on their day, but he has acknowledged the threats that Benfica will likely pose in front of a fired-up home crowd and feels that their first-leg clash "will be the first game since I've been here that we will be underdogs".
Team News
Benfica left-back Juan Bernat has been sidelined since October with a muscle problem and is not expected to return on Thursday, while right-back Alexander Bah has emerged as a doubt after missing last weekend's defeat to Porto with an unspecified problem.
The potential absence of both players will likely see Morato continue at left-back and Fredrik Aursnes operate at right-back as Otamendi and Antonio Silva retain their places in central defence.
Florentino Luis will be pushing for a recall in centre-midfield alongside Joao Neves, while Arthur Cabral could replace Casper Tengstedt up front.
As for Rangers, Ross McCausland could be facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines after he was forced off against Motherwell with a "serious" injury, according to Clement, following a strong challenge from Steelmen defender Casey.
Abdallah Sima (thigh), Danilo (knee), Kieran Dowell (unspecified), Rabbi Matondo (muscle), Oscar Cortes and Todd Cantwell (both hamstring) all remain in the treatment room, although the latter is closing in on a return.
Tom Lawrence, Ryan Jack and Kemar Roofe will all be assessed to see if they will be fit to start against Benfica, while Borna Barisic, Scott Wright and ex-Porto striker Fabio Silva will all be pushing for a place in the first XI after beginning on the bench last time out.
Benfica possible starting lineup:
Trubin; Aursnes, A. Silva, Otamendi, Morato; Neves, Luis; Di Maria, R. Silva; Mario; Cabral
Rangers possible starting lineup:
Butland; Tavernier, Goldson, Souttar, Barisic; Lundstram, Raskin; Wright, Diomande, Lawrence; Dessers
We say: Benfica 2-2 Rangers
Another closely-fought contest with plenty of goalmouth action could be on the cards between these two sides, who will be desperate to return to winning ways following disappointing domestic defeats last weekend.
Taking into account Benfica's impressive Europa League home form and Rangers' record in Portugal, we can see an entertaining score draw played out in Lisbon to leave the tie finely poised ahead of next week's second leg.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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