Rangers vs Viktoria Plzen predicted by supercomputer in Champions League
Rangers travel to the Czech Republic to take on Viktoria Plzen in their Champions League third qualifying round second leg on Tuesday.
The Gers take a comfortable lead to Plzen, having won 3-0 at Ibrox last week thanks to a double from Djeidi Gassama and a goal from Cyriel Dessers.
Gassama has started life at Ibrox on fire, scoring four goals in three Champions League qualifiers so far, and will be looking to add to his tally to help Rangers advance.
Russell Martin’s side are massive favourites to advance after last week’s victory, but will know they cannot afford to be complacent with their form in the Scottish Premiership stuttering.
Tie not over as difficult trip to the Czech Republic awaits
Thelo Aasgaard and Hamza Igamane have both returned to training after spells out with injury, but it remains to be seen if either will be involved tomorrow (12 August).
James Tavernier could return to the lineup for the trip to the Czech Republic after coming on to equalise from the penalty spot against Dundee at the weekend.
| Opponent | Result |
| Panathinaikos (H) | W 2-0 |
| Panathinaikos (A) | D 1-1 |
| Viktoria Plzen (H) | W 3-0 |
Rangers hold a massive advantage in the tie from the first leg, but a bad start in Plzen could spell bad news for Martin’s side.
Opta’s Supercomputer has Plzen as the large favourites to win the second leg alone at 52.2 per cent, while the Gers are underdogs at just a 25.7 per cent chance of victory in the Czech Republic.
A draw is predicted at 22.1 per cent likely, a result which would match what Rangers did at Panathinaikos in the previous round.
Martin needs his side to weather initial storm to advance
The Gers can expect a bouncing atmosphere at the Doosan Arena tomorrow night, and their job will simply be to weather the storm early on.
Should Plzen get one or two goals early on in the second leg, Rangers heads will drop, and the Czech side will capitalise while their tails are up.
If Martin can see his side get to half-time with their three-goal lead still intact or even extended, the confidence will be there to finish the job and reach the play-off round against either Red Bull Salzburg or Club Brugge.
The Champions League could be in touching distance again.
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