Can Ibrox crowd get Rangers up and running?
Group A is looking like a huge ask for Rangers at the moment ahead of hosting Napoli in the Champions League this week.
It will be the club’s first home game in the competition for 11 years and a buoyant Napoli side will enter a cauldron atmosphere at Ibrox Stadium.
Rangers produced some very memorable nights under the lights at Ibrox, to upset the odds and make it to the Europa League final last season, they are not fancied at all in preparing to host Luciano Spalletti’s men but that may only spur them on more.
The Gers have an uphill battle ahead if they are to qualify for the Europa League again, possible by finishing third in the group, after losing 4-0 to Ajax on matchday one and Liverpool favourites to win the group.
Background
Victor Osimhen’s absence will be a huge loss for the visitors, the 23-year-old will miss out through injury after playing a key role in Gli Azzurri’s 4-1 win against Liverpool on matchday one.
Diego Demme and Karim Zedadka are also unavailable for Napoli, who are top of Serie A on goal difference at the moment, and it will be interesting to see how Spalletti uses his squad ahead of a trip to AC Milan on Sunday.
Ianis Hagi, Filip Helander, Tom Lawrence, Nnamdi Ofoborh and John Souttar are all sidelined for the hosts with Kemar Roofe a doubt.
If the Rangers squad can rise to the occasion, despite the poor performance at Ajax, this match will be competitive and Giovanni Van Bronckhorst needs to yield a positive result to cool negativity that would have built due to back-to-back 4-0 losses.
Goals?
Napoli dismantled Liverpool before half time last week, and Rangers will have looked into that deeply in aiming to earn a foothold in the game.
Home advantage feels more significant than usual given everything surrounding this fixture at Ibrox.
Rangers have scored in eight of ten.
Rangers have conceded in five of ten.
Rangers have seen both teams score in three of ten.
Rangers have seen over 2.5 goals in eight of ten.
Napoli have scored in six of seven.
Napoli have conceded in four of seven.
Napoli have seen both teams score in four of seven.
Napoli have seen over 2.5 goals in four of seven.
Post bet chat Marcus's Tips:
A Tanguy Ndombele second half additional time finish costs us a win, but our stake is returned.