Malmo FF vs Rangers Preview

Steven Gerrard will look to book a place in the 2021/22 Champions League group stage when he leads his side out at the Eleda Stadion in Malmö, Sweden this Tuesday to face Malmo FF in the first leg of the 2021/22 Champions League group stage qualifying round.

Malmo became eligible to play in this competition by winning the Swedish domestic league last season. They booked their place in this round by beating Latvian side Riga 2-1 on aggregate, before securing a 4-3 aggregate win over Finnish club HJK Helsinki.

The Swedish champions have scored in all four of their qualifying games so far and will be confident of their attacking ability heading into this clash.

The hosts are also unbeaten in seven matches and have kept four clean sheets in that period.

Meanwhile, Rangers earned the right to enter this season’s Champions League in the third qualifying round after winning the Scottish Premier League last season.

Steven Gerrard’s side ended Celtic’s nine-year dominance of the Scottish League to book a place in this year’s showpiece. Now they will look to go a step further and make their first UCL group stage in a decade by taking a good result home to Scotland in this first round.

The visitors are on a five game-winning run in competitive matches and began their title defence over the weekend with a 3-0 mauling of Livingston.

However, they will hope to avoid a repeat of their 2011/12 group stage exit when they lost to none other than Malmö despite winning the Scottish League the previous season.

With just 13 goals conceded (0.34 on average per game) while scoring 92 (2.42 on average) during last year’s domestic season “The Gers” will be confident going into this tie.