Europa League: Benfica vs Rangers
As a traditional giant of the Portuguese Super League, although it has not been among the top five leagues, the team has the reputation of being the strongest team outside the five major leagues, so in the Europa Cup, Benfica can be regarded as a strong team. First of all, Benfica performed very impressively last season, and under the leadership of new coach Schmidt, Benfica won the league title, in which they are not only the strongest team in attack, but also the best team in defense. The team has continued its excellent form this season, and the team is second in the league table. In the Champions League, the group stage drew with the French league hegemon Paris, defeated the Serie A powerhouse Juventus, and defeated the Belgian powerhouse Club Brugge in the knockout round. The team's recent form has dropped slightly, losing two consecutive games against the top teams in the league, especially in the last round of the league away to Porto 0-5, but this does not mean that Benfica will continue to be in the slump, and the team still has the possibility of a comeback.
Of the sixteen teams in the knockout stages of the Europa League, Glasgow Rangers from the Soviet Super League are undoubtedly one of the weakest, and although Van Bronckhorst led Rangers to the Europa League final and runners-up, the value is debatable given the importance of the teams. Although the Rangers belong to the weak echelon in these teams in the knockout round, they are still the hegemons in the Soviet Super League, full of gold, but the team's points difference in the league is not very wide, and the pressure of the battle for the top spot with Celtic is not small, in addition to the team usually suffers less hard battles, the overall competitive state is relatively limited, the team is surprising that there is a gap in both the tactical level and the personal ability of the players, and the team has played a brilliant 10 consecutive wins. In the last round of the league, they lost to the underdog Motherwell, and their morale was hit to a certain extent. They visited Benfica, who have been in a slump recently, and it seems that Rangers can see more hope of picking up points, but in the case of obvious disparity in strength, Rangers still need to be tested.
The difference in strength between the two sides is still relatively obvious, Benfica has been mixed in the European competition all year round, the team's tough ability is very good, and their own competitiveness is also strong, very gold and persuasive, plus the team's home dragon attribute is obvious, this game is ready to be described as an exaggeration. On the other hand, Rangers are under more pressure in the league, currently only two points ahead of Celtic, and Celtic are not yet tied up in European competition, once they are overtaken, it will be a passive situation in the title race. So I personally think that Benfica is still worth looking forward to.