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Arun - August 2, 2021
Malmo vs Rangers
Champions League Qualifier
Date: Tuesday, 3 August 2021
Kick-off at 18:00 UK/ 19:00 CET
Venue: Eleda Stadion (Malmo).
Scottish champions Rangers take on Malmo in their journey for a place in this season’s Champions League group phase.
Rangers first competitive action of the season was on the weekend, and they gave a good account of themselves with a solid 3-0 win over Livingston.
This will give Steven Gerard’s men much needed confidence boost ahead of this content with Malmo expected to provide them with a tougher test.
Last season, Rangers had a good Europa League campaign, they finished top of their group before losing out to Slavia Prague in the round of 16.
Malmo have enough competitive action in their bags, they already played 13 games in the Swedish Allsvenskan and went through two qualifying rounds in the Champions League. They are beaten just twice during those 17 games this season while they picked up 11 wins and 4 draws.
In Champions League qualifiers, Malmo got the better of Finnish side HJK and Riga FC from Latvia, both based on narrow home wins while they drew both away legs.
The teams met in the Champions League qualifying during 2011 and Malmo edged the contest with a 1-0 win at Glasgow before holding on to a 1-1 draw in the second leg.
Malmo are unbeaten in their last 10 Champions League qualifying fixtures winning half of those games.
Rangers are returning to Champions League qualification for the first time since 2011. They have only won just 1 of their last 20 including qualifying and group stage fixtures.
A lot have changed for the teams since they last met, and Rangers grew into a formidable force under Liverpool legend Steven Gerard.
I do believe this is Ranger’s game to win, while Malmo with all the good form in domestic league can fall short when they come against solid teams in Europe. The Swedes only managed narrow wins over teams like HJK and Riga who plays their trade in leagues ranked way behind Allsvenskan.
We are also expecting some goals here, Malmo likes to play attacking football and they saw under 2.5 goals in just 5 of the 17 competitive games played so far this season.
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