Rangers record against English clubs makes for grim reading ahead of Man Utd clash
01/22/2025 03:00 AM
Rangers’ Europa League clash with the fallen giant of Manchester United is not being billed as the foregone conclusion it once would’ve been.
Of course, the Red Devils are still heavy favourites to win at Old Trafford on Thursday as their expensively assembled squad dwarfs Gers’ in terms of transfer fees spent and wages.
But it is far from a United which strikes fear around world football when pretty much every club wished they had a Beckham or a Giggs, or a partnership like Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole.
They currently sit 13th in the Premier League table and recently appointed manager Ruben Amorim has admitted the current Man United side might be the worst EVER.
The Portuguese manager, 39, insists he will get it right eventually but insists he and the fans might have to keep surviving the pain for now.
They will expect to take the points against Scottish Premiership opposition this week, but will also be aware of the dangers of a slip-up.
Especially after their defender Noussair Mazraoui highlighted Hamza Igamane as a Rangers dangerman ahead of the Old Trafford clash.
One thing the English giants could take comfort from is how the Light Blues have fared against teams from down south in the past.
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Rangers’ record vs English clubs ahead of Man Utd clash
Rangers have played Manchester United four times in their history and have never been on the winning side, drawing once and losing three times, as per transfermarkt.
The English opposition they have coped best against is Leeds United, with two wins from four along with one draw and one defeat. So a 50 per cent win rate.
It’s also 50 per cent against Wolves but only from two meetings, winning once and drawing once.
Rangers recently drew with Tottenham in the current Europa League campaign but that’s the only time they’ve taken anything from Spurs, losing on two occasions.
It’s one draw and a defeat against Newcastle, two defeats against Liverpool, including that 7-1 in 2022, and one defeat from one against Aston Villa.
All of that adds up to just three victories from 18 against English opposition for Rangers, five draws and ten losses.
| Rangers’ English opponents | W | D | L | Win rate |
| Leeds | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50% |
| Wolves | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50% |
| Man Utd | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0% |
| Tottenham | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0% |
| Newcastle | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0% |
| Liverpool | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0% |
| Aston Villa | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% |
Rangers record vs Ruben Amorim
On a more positive note, Rangers have done much better when coming up against Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim.
The Portuguese has come up against the Ibrox men twice when he was in charge of Braga, over two legs in the 2019/20 Europa League. As we know Gers won both legs, 3-2 at home and then finishing the job with a 1-0 over in Portugal.
Amorim is trying to implement the style that served him so well in his homeland so Rangers’ record against Portuguese sides is interesting.
Since the Gerrard days, Gers have only two defeats to Portuguese opponents from ten attempts – Benfica last season and Braga, with the context of that being part of a two-legged victory on the way to the Europa League final.
In terms of all time, Rangers have played teams from Portugal 24 times and lost just five of those games. There have been 11 victories and eight draws.
