On Thursday night, Athletic Bilbao hosts Rangers at Estadio de San Mames in what is expected to be a tense quarter-final second leg following last week’s stalemate in Glasgow.
Date: 17/04/2025
Location: Estadio de San Mames
Time: 8pm
In the first leg the match resulted in a 0-0 draw at Ibrox, however, it was certainly not without any drama, as Robin Propper was sent off in the 13th-minute of the game, while Liam Kelly saved a penalty from Alex Berenguer. During that match, Bilbao took a total of 19 shots to Rangers four, but, failed to take advantage of the red card.
Athletic Bilbao are having an excellent season, as they sit fourth in La Liga with 57 points from 31 matches, meaning that they are six points ahead of fifth-place Villarreal.
On top of their superb league performances, Bilbao have gone well thus far in the Europa League, as they finished second in the Group Stage of this competition with 19 points from eight matches, while in the knockout stages they managed to beat AS Roma 4-3 on aggregate to advance to the quarter-finals.
There is an added incentive for the Basque side to win this competition as the final will be held at their home stadium. Whoever progresses in this tie will face one of Manchester United or Rangers in the semi-finals.
Rangers are as good as mathematically unable to win the Scottish Premiership, as they are 15 points adrift of top of the table Celtic with an inferior goal difference to their Old Firm Rivals.
The Gers managed to qualify for the Europa League’s Round of 16 via an eighth-place finish with 14 points from eight matches. Barry Ferguson has only taken charge of three Europa League matches, as prior to their 0-0 stalemate with Athletic Bilbao, they managed to beat Fenerbahçe on penalties after a 3-3 aggregate draw.
Europa League 
