Bayer Leverkusen began the season in the Champions League but look set to make the last eight of the Europa League. They host Scottish Premiership side Glasgow Rangers and lead 3-1 from the away first leg. The winners of this tie take on either Inter Milan or Getafe in the quarter finals with the tie being played in Germany. ague side Rangers in the return leg of their Europa League round of 16 games. The Germans, who hold a two-goal advantage from their 3-1 first leg victory in Glasgow, hope to use this tournament as their way of securing a place in next season's Champions League. They finished fifth in the Bundesliga and have qualified for next season's Europa League.
Leverkusen finished third in their Champions League group. It was a tough one though with the two sides above them being Atletico Madrid and Juventus. They did get a home win over Atletico though, that shows what a difficult task this is for Rangers. Transferred into the Europa League, Leverkusen beat Porto 5-2 on aggregate in the last 32 before the 3-1 away win in Scotland. They go into this match buoyed by a great home run comprising nine wins in 12 league and cup games. They also scored two or more goals in 10 of the 12 matches in this sequence while keeping four clean sheets. However, Leverkusen, have not had a clean sheet in the Europa League this campaign, with their opponents in three matches scoring a goal each.
Rangers visit the BayArena after a 1-0 win at Aberdeen in their first match of a fresh Scottish Premiership season. This was after a great pre-season comprising four clean sheet wins against local and international opponents including Lyon and Nice. Rangers finished the 2019-20 campaign in second place behind Celtic and arrived at this stage after emerging second in Group G before they eliminated Braga on a 4-2 aggegate score. Earlier, the team sailed through four qualifiers to reach the group stage by knocking out St Joseph's, Progrès Niederkorn, Midtjylland and Legia Warszawa. Until their loss to Bayern, Rangers were on a five-game unbeaten Europa League run comprising three wins and two draws. They are also unbeaten in their last three away matches in the Europa League, although just one of the games was won.
Rangers have it all to do and will need at least three goals to have any chance of making the last eight. For this to happen a dramatic improvement is required; Rangers have never recovered to win a UEFA return match after losing at home in the first leg. The Germans, on the other hand, will be keen not to drop the ball lthough they must work on their defence with their current performance in the Europa League pointing at an inability to keep clean sheets. That said, we see both teams scoring in this match for an over 2.5 total scoreline.