Athletic Bilbao v Rangers: Key stats
Athletic Club have only hosted Rangers once before, beating them 2-0 in the Fairs Cup in April 1969. The only other time Athletic have hosted a Scottish club was in two games against Dunfermline in 1965, also in the Fairs Cup, winning 1-0 and then 2-1 in a deciding game.Rangers won 3-2 away at Real Betis in their last European game in Spain, having gone 13 away games without winning there beforehand between 1962 and 2018 (D3 L10).On the last five occasions Athletic Club have drawn the first leg of a major European tie, they have been eliminated each time. The last time a draw in the first leg was followed up with Athletic getting through to the next round was in the 1976-77 Uefa Cup semi-final against RWD Molenbeek.Rangers scored in each of their first nine Europa League matches this season, netting 19 goals. However, they have failed to score in their last two, having 27 shots without finding the net.Athletic Club are the only team with a 100% win ratio on home soil in the Europa League this season, winning all five games. They have never won six home games in a major European season before, winning five in 1976-77 under Koldo Aguirre and five in 2011-12 under Marcelo Bielsa.Only Lyon (13) have scored more away Europa League goals than Rangers (11) this season, while only Lazio (four) have won more games than the Gers (three). Rangers have never previously won four away matches in a major European campaign.Rangers captain James Tavernier has played 62 major European matches for the Gers, level with John Greig, with only Allan McGregor playing more times (78). He has also made the most appearances of any Englishman in the Europa League (58) and only Andreas Ulmer for RB Salzburg (61) and Matheus for Braga (58) have more for a single club than his 56 for Rangers.Oscar De Marcos could make a record breaking 58th major European appearance for Athletic Club in this match, overtaking former team-mate Markel Susaeta who is level with him on 57 games currently.
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