Rangers vs Napoli

Ibrox Stadium is the venue as Rangers and Napoli meet in contrasting circumstances in this exciting Champions League Group A encounter.

These are uncertain times for Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst as his men take the field off the back of consecutive defeats via an aggregate score of 8-0, including a 4-0 thumping to Ajax in their Group A curtain-raiser. The ‘Gers’ hoped for a more promising start after dispatching PSV Eindhoven in the playoffs to secure their first appearance in the Champions League group stages since 2010/11. Despite their underwhelming spell of form, you’d be silly to underestimate Rangers at Ibrox, where they’ve won five of their six competitive outings this term (D1). Moreover, last season’s Scottish Premiership runners-up have been unbeaten in eight of their nine previous European home fixtures against Italian visitors (W5, D3), including victories of non-other than AC Milan and Juventus.

In the meantime, Napoli could not have hoped for a better Group A start as they humiliated last season’s Champions League finalists Liverpool in an overwhelming 4-1 home victory on matchday one. Luciano Spalletti’s men needed Giacamo Raspadori’s late winner to beat Spezia 1-0 at the weekend and extend their 100% unbeaten start to the new season to seven matches (W5, D2). ‘I Partenopei’ are now on the lookout for what would be their first back-to-back Champions League victories since September 2016 in their first European clash against Scottish sides since 1967. But the Italians can ill-afford to rest on their laurels, knowing they have never won a UEFA-sanctioned game in the United Kingdom (D4, L7). Napoli’s ‘United Kingdom hoodoo’ is unlikely to go away, as they’ve won just once in their last ten Champions League road matches (D4, L5).