Athletic Bilbao vs Rangers predictions: Basques to box Gers into a corner
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- These two sides drew 0-0 at Ibrox in the first leg last week
- The winners play either Lyon or Manchester United in the semi-finals
- Recommended bet: Over 7.5 Athletic corners
A week after Rangers produced a gutsy 0-0 draw against Athletic Bilbao at Ibrox the sides meet again at San Mames for a place in the semi-finals of this season's Europa League.
The Spanish side have the added motivation of knowing that the tournament final in May will played at their own home ground.
Team news
Left-back Yuri Berchiche is on the verge of a comeback from a calf injury, though he would be unlikely to get any further than the Athletic bench, with Lekue Martinez performing well in his absence.
Ghana international Inaki Williams is a doubt after pulling up in Sunday's 3-1 win over Rayo Vallecano.
Rangers have Robin Propper suspended after his first-leg red card, so John Souttar, available himself after a ban, should slot straight back in to Barry Ferguson's back three.
Nicolas Raskin, Tom Lawrence, Ridvan Yilmaz, Vaclav Cerny and Bailey Rice are all doubts.
The stats
Athletic have kept four clean sheets in their last five matches.
The Basque giants are unbeaten at home in La Liga or the Europa League since a 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid in August. They have won all five of their home Europa League ties.
Rangers are without a win in three and without a goal in their last two Europa League fixtures.
Bilbao have won 62 corners in their 11 Europa League matches, 21 more than Rangers in the same number of games.
Prediction
Rangers got away with one at Ibrox last Thursday when, playing with 10 men for most of the game they managed to hold Bilbao to a goalless draw.
The visitors bossed the game, created chances and missed a penalty and were kicking themselves for not being sharper against the battling Scots.
Gers now have to do it all over again – admittedly with 11 men – but this time in the San Mames where Athletic have not lost a match of significance since August.
Ernesto Valverde's Basque side are fourth in La Liga, not far off the big three and are definitely the classiest side Rangers have met so far.
It is hard to imagine Barry Ferguson's men being able to ride their luck twice in a row.
It was all Spanish pressure in Glasgow last week and the same will happen in Bilbao where the hosts should again carve out chances and also win a stack of corners.
They managed nine in the first leg, average close to six per game throughout the tournament and can climb above 7.5 corners on Thursday evening.
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