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RB Leipzig vs Rangers Odds & Prediction – Europa League Semifinals Leg 1

Paul Attfield

by Paul Attfield in Soccer News

Updated Apr 27, 2022 · 2:24 PM PDT

RB Leipzig vs Rangers
Leipzig players celebrate scoring their side's second goal during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig in Dortmund, Germany, Saturday, April 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
  • It’s RB Leipzig vs Rangers in the Europa League semifinals on Thursday, April 28th at 3 pm ET
  • Germany’s Leipzig is a massive -295 favorite to pick up a win in the first leg
  • Read on for betting odds, a full preview and best bets for this Europa League clash

With the Europa League down to the final four, both Germany’s RB Leipzig and Scotland’s Rangers will be confident of moving into the final after some impressive wins against some of Europe’s biggest clubs to get this far. Leipzig knocked off Atalanta to reach the semifinals, while Rangers clambered past Braga having previously eliminated Borussia Dortmund.

And Leipzig has every right to be confident, listed as the favorite to win the entire competition in the Europa League odds.

RB Leipzig vs Rangers Odds

Matchup Moneyline
RB Leipzig -295
Rangers +800
Draw +410

Odds as of April 27th at Barstool Sportsbook

Over/Under and Spread

The bookmakers are clearly expecting a fairly comfortable home win for RB Leipzig here, who are listed as -295 favorites here, but they are also expecting goals in this opening leg, with odds of over 2.5 goals listed at -141, while the under is at +115.

And Leipzig is such a heavy favorite that even spotting Rangers a couple of goals doesn’t get you much in the way of favorable odds, with a -1.5 spread yielding odds of just +102.

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Nkunku to Score Odds

If one man is going to threaten Rangers’ chances of getting anything out of this game it is Christopher Nkunku. The Frenchman now has 30 goals in all competitions for Leipzig this season after picking up two in the last round to dump Atalanta out of the tournament.

YouTube video

While he has 17 in the Bundesliga, the newly capped French international has 10 in Europe now, with seven in the Champions League group stage to go along with the three he has in the Europa League knockout rounds. He is the favorite to score here, with odds of +310 to find the back of the net.

Leipzig Flying High

Forget the famed energy drink, Domenico Tedesco has given his team plenty of wings of late. Leipzig is currently fourth in the Bundesliga, a solitary point back of Leverkusen. Even more impressively, Tedesco piloted Die Roten Bullen to a 16-game unbeaten streak in all competitions, a run that began in February and was just ended this past Saturday in a 2-1 loss to Union Berlin.

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Rangers On a Roll

Although it looks almost certain that Rangers will concede the Scottish league title to bitter rivals Celtic, they’ve proven to be a tough out in knockout competitions this season, having also reached the Scottish Cup final earlier this month with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Celtic.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s club seems to have a natural affinity to playing well in continental competition these last few months as well, having knocked off Dortmund, Red Star Belgrade and most recently Braga in extra time to get this far. The team comes into this game on a four-game winning streak, too.

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RB Leipzig vs Rangers Team Lineups and Injuries

RB Leipzig Projected Lineup: Gulacsi; Klostermann, Gvardiol, Halstenberg; Henrichs, Laimer, Adams, Angelino; Olmo; Silva, Nkunku.

RB Leipzig Injuries: Amadou Haidara (knee), Kevin Kampl (suspended), Willi Orban (suspended), Mohamed Simakan (suspended).

Rangers Projected Lineup: McGregor; Tavernier, Goldson, Bassey, Barisic; Jack, Lundstram; Arfield, Aribo, Kent; Sakala

Rangers Injuries: Ianis Hagi (knee), Filip Helander (foot), Alfredo Morelos (thigh), Nnamdi Ofoborh (heart), Aaron Ramsey (hamstring), Kemar Roofe (knee)

RB Leipzig vs Rangers 2021-22 Europa League Stats

RB Leipzig
VS
Rangers
2-0-2 2021-22 Europa League Record 5-4-3
8 Goals For 19
4 Goals Against 13
8.9 Expected Goals 19.8
4.6 Expected Goals Against 14.9
LWWWW Recent Form (All Competitions) WWWLL

Unfamiliar Foes

Thursday’s match will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams in continental competition. Leipzig has very limited experience against Scottish clubs, winning one and losing one against Celtic in the 2018-19 Europa League group stage.

However, Rangers have played against German teams on 49 occasions, with 17 wins, 17 losses and 15 draws. Of course, this will be the second meeting with a German club in this year’s Europa League, with Rangers having knocked out Borussia Dortmund in the round-of-32 with a 6-4 aggregate victory.

I can these this one being a tight affair in leg 1 and resulting in a draw.

Best bet: Draw (+410)

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