Rangers’ second successive season in the UEFA Europa League main stage gets underway on Thursday, as they take a trip to the Eleda Stadion to take on Swedish powerhouse Malmo. Rangers are the betting favourites with bookmakers for this fixture, and if you are looking for a nowe casino online w 2024, many online casinos now offer sports betting as well.

Philippe Clement’s side swept aside Dundee FC with an overwhelming 3-0 League Cup win over the weekend, following up a narrow 1-0 league triumph against Dundee United.

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Despite that narrow triumph, it’s been an unenviable Scottish Premiership start for the Gers as they already trail bitter rivals Celtic by five points after the first five rounds.

According to the Daily Mail, Rangers will back Clement with ‘time and money’ to rebuild the fallen Glasgow titans, regardless of a sub-par top-flight opening.

Rangers’ European journey last season ended in the first knockout round of the Europa League, and making it out of the newly formatted league phase remains a priority for Clement’s charges.

Getting off to a flying start would be welcome, but Malmo won’t go down without a fight, especially after stringing together a four-match unbeaten run in the build-up to this fixture (W2, D2).

Speaking on the BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast, Swedish defender Filip Helander warned Rangers they’ll face a ‘very, very’ strong Malmo, and he has a point.

Henrik Rydstrom’s men are on the verge of lifting a record-extending 24th title in Sweden’s top division after creating a handsomely-looking 11-point cushion at the table’s summit.

Therefore, they’ll take the field in high spirits despite wasting a glorious opportunity to return to the Champions League main draw for the first time since 2021/22.

Malmo

The Swedish giants have played six European matches this season, recording partial success (W3, D1, L2).

Unfortunately for the Blue Ones faithful, both those defeats came in the Champions League knockout play-off round against Sparta Prague.

Rydstrom’s lads have taken that personally, going four straight games without conceding, including a 4-0 demolition of Hacken at the weekend.

According to autor Jeyson Peterson, Malmo can draw further confidence from their sterling record against Rangers as they’ve avoided defeat in all four previous meetings between the two teams (W3, D1).

Since three of those four encounters saw both teams on the scoresheet (BTTS), it’s only natural to expect a high-scoring theme to be in store on Thursday.

Whether Rangers could get on top of it remains debatable, considering the Swedes have only lost two of their last 17 outings on this ground (W13, D2).

Rangers

Like Malmo, Rangers couldn’t navigate their Champions League qualifying campaign, succumbing to a 3-1 aggregate loss to Dynamo Kyiv in the penultimate round.

Redemption is in order, with Clement’s side looking to atone for a dismal 3-0 defeat to Celtic at the beginning of September.

That result forms part of the Gers’ underwhelming run of just one win from their last six away matches (D3, L2), which could undermine their hopes of taking three points on Swedish shores.

Rangers’ travel sickness has come to the fore in their recent continental duels outside Ibrox, as they’ve claimed just one win in their last seven games in foreign lands (D2, L4).

As if that’s not concerning enough, the visitors make this trip searching for their first-ever European victory against Swedish opposition after six busted attempts (D2, L4).

Bucking that dreadful trend will likely hinge on Rangers rediscovering their scoring form on the road after averaging just 0.5 goals per game on their last four competitive travels.

Prediction

A win would be huge for Rangers. Clement’s men need every encouragement they can get after a poor league start.

However, Malmo are no pushovers, especially at the Eleda Stadion.

The Swedes lost all six group matches in their last appearance in the Europa League proper, meaning the Gers have an outside chance to return home victorious.

But a draw looks like the most realistic scenario.

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