Glasgow Rangers receives Maribor’s Thursday evening at 19:45 in the first leg of the Preliminary Round 3 of the UEFA Europa League. Steven Gerrard’s students started qualifying after working hard in the previous round against the Croats at NK Osijek. Maribor is a dangerous opponent who has put Scottish problems in the past …
The two clubs also met in the 2010/2011 season of the Europa League, when Maribor won 2-1 at home and 1-1 on Ibrox. This time, Rangers has a slightly more valuable batch, but the Slovenians are not at all an easy opponent. In the previous tour of the Europa League, Maribor passed the Georgians from Chikhura with 0-0 away and 2-0 home. Instead, Rangers made 1-0 in Osijek and 1-1 on his own. I saw Steven Gerrard’s first official matches on Rangers’ bench, and the feeling is that white-blues prefer a tactical, economic game in which the defensive must absorb a lot of pressure.
Maribor comes after a definite victory in the championship.
In the championship, Rangers just made a 1-1 disappointing with Aberdeen: Glasgow remained in numerical inferiority in the first 15 minutes but scored a penalty and maintained the score 1-0 to overtime. A defensive inaccuracy and a goal-keeper’s error led to Aberdeen’s equalizer, but Gerrard was pleased with the attitude and organization of his footballers. If Rangers again accepts being dominated, Maribor has dangerous weapons in players like Vrhovec, Mesanovic, Kramaric, Tavares, Vrsic or Hotic. Glasgow Rangers should not underestimate this band in Slovenia, which is used to playing in Europe’s big scenes.
In the last round of the championship, Maribor won 5-2 at Aluminij and showed he was ready for the Preliminary Round 3 of the Europa League. Maribor has not received a goal in 4 of its last 5 official games and will probably play very cautiously in Scotland. It’s a little match, where the higher risks will be assumed only after the break.
PREDICTION: Rangers to win @ 2.00
