Football betting tips: Europa League
1pt Filip Kostic 1+ assists at 10/3 (Coral, Ladbrokes)
BuildABet @ 26/1
- Filip Kostic 1+ assists
- 12+ match corners
- Dusan Tadic 2+ shots on target
Well it's Groundhog Day...again.
Rangers sit 16 points behind Celtic in the Scottish Premiership table. The manager has been sacked. They limp to the end of the season ahead of a summer rebuild.
It's all too familiar a tale.
Former captain Barry Ferguson is in charge until the end of the season with his group of 'they know the club' figures in support. The two games so far have delivered a win over Kilmarnock where they were 2-0 down and a home defeat to Motherwell.
A trip to Fenerbahce who remain in the title race in the Turkish Super Lig is far from ideal. Jose Mourinho's men have won eight of their last nine in front of their own supporters too - the one game which fell short being a 0-0 draw with Lyon.
The prices are suggesting another home win and it's hard to disagree.
What are the best bets?
The best odds you're currently getting on a Fenerbahce win is 4/6 and that's certainly worth inclusion in any Thursday accumulators.
It's a bit too short for interest as a single though, particularly considering some of the prices available in the players markets.
The one that does catch the eye is the 10/3 for FILIP KOSTIC 1+ ASSISTS - he's now registered in their Europa League squad after joining on loan from Juventus at the end of the summer window.
He's returned six assists in 19 league games featuring on the left side and created plenty across the two legs with Anderlecht in the knockout play-off round of this competition.
Kostic returned five chances created in those games. In his last four league starts, the figure stands at nine. Three of his seven league outings at home have also seen at least three chances.
Providing opportunities for others has been a strength of his throughout his career as he'd regularly return seasonal double figure assist tallies during his time with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Rangers are vulnerable and we'd expect Fenerbahce to enjoy the better of the chances. Considering the prices available, siding with Kostic for some goal involvement is worthwhile.
Team news
Fenerbahce go into this one without Fred and Bright Osayi-Samuel available - the midfield duo currently suspended.
Osayi-Samuel is dealing with an injury anyway, as is former Aston Villa defender Diego Carlos. Ismail Yuksek is another currently nursing a problem.
Rodrigo Becao and Jayden Oosterwolde are both out for the rest of the season.
For Rangers, Oscar Cortes is their only confirmed player out through injury with the attacker likely to need a significant amount of time to recover.
Leon King departed the club to join Queen's Park on loan last week but John Souttar is set to be fit enough to feature.
Predicted line-ups
Fenerbahce XI: Egribayrat; Skriniar, Soyuncu, Akcicek; Muldur, Amrabat, Szymanski, Kostic; Tadic; En-Nesyri, Dzeko.
Rangers XI: Butland; Tavernier, Souttar, Propper, Jefte; Diomande, Raskin; Cerny, Igamane, Hagi; Dessers.
Match facts
- This will be the third European meeting between Fenerbahçe and Rangers, having met in qualifying for the 2001-02 UEFA Champions League, with the Turkish side progressing after a 2-1 home win (0-0 at Ibrox).
- Fenerbahçe remain unbeaten against Scottish opposition in Europe (including qualifiers – P4 W1 D3), facing Rangers in UEFA Champions League qualifying in 2001-02 (W1 D1) and Celtic and the UEFA Europa League group stages in 2015-16 (D2).
- Rangers have progressed from just two of their previous 11 last 16 ties in major European competition, eliminating SV Werder Bremen from the UEFA Cup in 2007-08 and Crvena Zvezda from the UEFA Europa League on their way to reaching the final in 2021-22.
- Fenerbahçe possess the highest shot conversion rate of any remaining side in the UEFA Europa League this season (16.5%), netting 14 of their 85 attempts on goal. Indeed, they also have the joint-highest, along with AZ and Ajax, xG per shot value in the competition this season of 0.15 (12.37xG).
- 15 of Rangers’ 16 UEFA Europa League goals this season have come from open play, the joint-highest total in the competition this term. Meanwhile, only AZ (16.4), Galatasaray (15.3), Real Sociedad (13.7) and Ajax (13.3) have created more xG from open play than Rangers (13.1).
Odds correct at 1115 GMT (05/03/25)
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