Can Rangers Basque in Quarter Final Glory?

I’m not sure anyone would have looked at the four quarter finals in the Europa League last week and decided that Bodo/Glimt would be the only team ahead in the tie after the first leg, but that’s what transpired last week as Lyon, Tottenham Hotspur and Rangers were all held at home by Manchester United, Eintracht Frankfurt and Athletic Bilbao respectively. Even Lazio might know that they are at home in the second leg against Bodo/Glimt and could turn around a two goal deficit, so it’s going to be an interesting night ahead.

All four games kick off at 8pm oor time, so whilst I’m sure all the Scottish interest is in Bilbao, should Rangers manage to win the tie then keeping an eye on the action at Old Trafford is also key as they would face the winner of that tie in the semi final.

But first, Rangers will need to find a way to beat Athletic Bilbao. That won’t be an easy task, and will be a very different one from last week’s goalless draw.

When Robin Propper was sent off for denying a goal scoring opportunity after just 13 minutes, the Rangers tactics very quickly became about staying in the tie. Athletic Bilbao couldn’t find a way to breach the Rangers defence, and do from that perspective it was mission accomplished for the ten men – that ended up being nine towards the end due to using all the substitutes and still having to deal with injuries.

Of course, the crucial point in the game came in the final fifteen minutes of regular time. VAR is much maligned, but had it not been in place then Athletic would have been awarded a goal they shouldn’t have been and this tie would have a very different complexion. It’s the easy offside to miss, many people forget you need two players closer to the goal line as the goalkeeper is almost always one of them, but VAR correctly caught it to rule out the goal.

But of course, VAR then decided that there had been a defensive hand ball before the offside, so a penalty was awarded. I dread to think what it was like in the stadium, wondering what on Earth was going on. VAR took forever to come to the decisions, and they still don’t announce what the decision is. So the fans watch Athletic Bilbao score an apparently legitimate goal, only for them to be awarded a penalty. Which Liam Kelly then saved. All in all, a good result for Rangers, even if the hand ball itself was contentious.

But unless Rangers want to progress on penalties for the second tie in a row, they’re going to have to be more attacking in the second leg than they were in the first. That might leave gaps at the back, and they don’t have the same advantage they had the last time a Rangers team visited Bilbao.

The 1968/69 Inter Cities Fairs Cup quarter final second leg saw Rangers lead 4-1 from the game at Ibrox. That was just enough to see Rangers progress to the semi final, as Athletic Bilbao won the second leg 2-0 at home. No footage of this one though.

Rangers record in Spain in general isn’t the best. Indeed, until last season’s 3-2 win over Real Betis that helped them to top their Europa League group they hadn’t actually won a game in Spain!

The first Rangers visit to Spain came in the 1962/63 Cup Winners Cup preliminary round. That day it was a 2-0 win for hosts Sevilla, although Rangers did ultimately win the tie 4-2 on aggregate. Again, no footage of this one.

Rangers biggest ever European defeat came in Spain when they visited Real Madrid in the first round of the 1963/64 European Cup. That 6-0 thrashing has only been matched by Liverpool in their visit to Ibrox in 2022. This result ultimately saw Rangers go out 7-0 on aggregate too. Maybe don’t play this one if you’re a Rangers fan.

The 1966/67 Cup Winners Cup quarter final saw Rangers visit Real Zaragoza. Carrying a 2-0 win from Ibrox, Rangers then lost 2-0 in the second leg. Can’t find footage of this one either. However, in the days before penalty shootouts, Rangers ultimately won this tie on a coin toss to progress to the semi finals and eventually the final where they lost to Bayern Munich.

Rangers have been to Valencia the most, visiting three times in all. They’ve yet to win there, although their first visit in the 1979/80 Cup Winners Cup second round was a 1-1 draw. That ultimately saw them knocked out 4-2 on aggregate.

The other two visits came in the Champions League group stages, with Valencia winning 2-0 in 1999/2000 and 3-0 in 2010/11. Here’s the game from 1999 as I can’t find footage of the 2010 game.

Twice Rangers have been to Osasuna, and twice they’v lost and been knocked out of the UEFA Cup by them. The first was in 1985/86 when a 2-0 defeat in the first round saw them ultimately lose 2-1 on aggregate.

More recently, the 2006/07 UEFA Cup fourth round saw Rangers lose 1-0 in Spain and 2-1 on aggregate. I can’t find footage of this one.

The other team that have had a visit for Rangers more than once are Villarreal, and they’re the only team other than the aforementioned Real Betis not to have beaten Rangers at home. The 2005/06 Champions League round of sixteen saw the teams draw 1-1, although this was enough for Villarreal to progress on away goals as the first leg at Ibrox was 2-2. Here’s the Rangers goal that night.

The more recent trip to Villarreal came in the 2018/19 Europa League group stage, and this time it was a 2-2 draw.

The other time Rangers have visited Spain to play a side representing Spain was their trip to Barcelona in the 2007/08 Champions League group stage. That match finished in a 2-0 defeat for Rangers.

Rangers do have one more visit to Spain of course, although this one didn’t end in a win either as Eintracht Frankfurt won the 2021/22 Europa League in Sevilla. It could end the same way tonight of course, given extra time and penalties were needed to decide that final.

The only other time Athletic Bilbao have hosted a Scottish side was Dunfermline Athletic in the third round of the Inter Cities Fairs Cup in 1964/65. Dunfermline lost the first leg in Bilbao 1-0, but battled back at home to also win 1-0. Unfortunately, they then lost the coin toss that decided where the playoff game would be played. So heading back to Bilbao, Dunfermline conceded a very dodgy first half penalty before levelling the game and the tie once more just after the break through Alex Smith – the same man who had levelled the tie at East End Park. Unfortunately for Dunfermline, they would concede the winning goal just five minutes from the end and bow out of the tournament. Athletic then lost to eventual winners of the trophy, Ferencvaros, in the very next round. No footage of Dunfermline’s exploits though.

Athletic Bilbao won 3-1 at home to Rayo Vallecano on Sunday to remain fourth in the La Liga table, six points behind third place Atletico Madrid with seven games to go. They go to second place Real Madrid this coming Sunday.

Rangers drew 2-2 away to Aberdeen on Sunday to at least deny Celtic officially clinching the Scottish Premiership title. They are fifteen points behind with give games remaining and a vastly inferior goal difference though so it’s effectively done. They are thirteen points ahead of third place Hibernian, so they haven’t quite confirmed second spot yet either. Rangers don’t play this coming weekend as it’s Scottish Cup semi final time, so their next match is a week on Saturday when they travel to St Mirren. That game would immediate precede any Europa League semi final.

Good luck to Rangers tonight!