Club Brugge vs Rangers Prediction: Belgians to pile misery on Martin’s nervy Gers

UEFA Champions League qualification ends on Wednesday as Rangers aim to join Europe’s elite. To achieve that, Russell Martin’s side must overturn a 3-1 defeat suffered at Ibrox last Tuesday. It is TNT Sports 1 from 20:00 on Wednesday evening for this one.

Can Gers flip the tables on Club Brugge in Belgium? Betfred’s Frank Monkhouse has given us his thoughts and provides his top two Club Brugge vs Rangers Predictions...

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Club Brugge enjoy home advantage when Rangers arrive at Jan Breydel Stadium on Wednesday for a 20:00 BST kick-off. Blue-Black couldn’t believe their luck when profiting from their opponent’s generosity in the first leg, racing into a 3-0 lead midway through the first half.

Ibrox quickly emptied, and although Brazilian striker Danilo scored a consolation in the second half, Brugge have one foot in the Champions League proper.

Despite a busy summer and a raft of new signings in Govan, Rangers fans endured the same old story at Ibrox last midweek. They watched on in disbelief as their side handed Brugge a goal head start by conceding inside the first three minutes of play.

Gers were 2-0 behind after seven minutes and three goals down with less than a quarter of the game played. Beating an experienced Champions League team like Brugge was always going to be difficult. Handing them three goals made the job almost impossible.

Club Brugge vs Rangers Odds

Club Brugge made a mockery of what had been billed as a competitive contest last week and all but killed off the tie before most fans inside Ibrox had taken their seats.

The Belgians had heard about the famous Ibrox roar, but the iconic Govan venue was like a library by half-time and almost empty by the end. Were Brugge brilliant, or were Rangers just rotten? We’ll know more on Wednesday evening. You can bet on Club Brugge finishing the job at the 8/15 offered by Betfred on the home win.

What went wrong for Russell Martin’s Rangers in the first half? Were the new players spooked by the Blue Sea of Ibrox and an incredible noise before kick off? Were they outclassed by a better opponent?

Did the game come too early, or is the new manager out of his depth at this level? Life as a Rangers fan is more questions than answers at present, but one thing’s for certain, the Scottish Premiership runners-up must beat the Belgian Pro League silver medallists by three goals to go through. That’s no mean feat for any side, let alone one low on confidence. The away win is 18/5 with a draw trading at 16/5.

Both teams to score

The first Club Brugge vs Rangers pick on Wednesday is for the second leg to follow the first, and both teams to find the net at least once. With this approach, it doesn’t matter which team wins the match and which goes through.

As long as both Brugge and Rangers score at least once each in the 90 minutes, your bet wins. They can both score inside the opening few minutes in a grandstand finish. When betting on BTTS, you’re in the match until the end.

Betting on both teams to score would’ve landed you a profit last week at Ibrox. It was also the correct approach when Rangers beat Alloa Athletic 4-2 in the Scottish League Cup, lost 2-1 to Plzen in the previous round of this competition, and in 1-1 Premiership draws with St Mirren, Dundee and Motherwell. Results also show Club Brugge beat Salzburg 3-2 and Genk 2-1 at this venue.

Add Brugge vs Rangers both score to your midweek multiples.

Both Teams to Score & Club Brugge win

We’re sticking with the stats and shoot for a winner at higher odds when backing Club Brugge to win and both teams to score. Similar to our first pick, you need these rivals to hit the net, but you’re also betting on another win for the home team.

Having watched the first leg from the stands at Ibrox, I didn’t see anything to suggest Martin’s team can turn this tie around, and the aggregate score could get embarrassing.

Brugge are a team that belongs in the UCL and have many Champions League-quality players. Not one man in blue eight days ago looked comfortable at that level, and that’s the difference between the clubs.

The new-look Rangers coaching staff have a long road ahead of them getting the team up to scratch, and Wednesday comes far too soon in their development. If, by some sort of footballing miracle, Rangers got through, they would be torn apart in the league phase.

Frank Monkhouse Scottish Football P/L

25/26 Season:

• Points Placed: 27
• Points Returned: 17.38
• P/L: -9.62

24/25 Season:

• Points Placed: 257
• Points Returned: 252.25
• P/L: -4.75

Frank Monkhouse covers Scottish Football for us here at Betfred Insights. You can check out all of his work along with that of the rest of our Football Betting Tips desk on our main Football page...