Athletic Club vs Rangers

Rangers and Athletic Club faced in the 1968-69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in the quarter-final – the Gers won 4-1 in the first leg at home, before Athletic won 2-0 in the second leg, with the Scottish side going through 4-3 on aggregate.

Athletic Club have lost both of their major European visits to Scotland, losing 1-0 to Dunfermline Athletic in 1965 and 4-1 to Rangers in 1969, both in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

This will be Rangers’ 13th major European quarter-final and first since the 2021-22 UEFA Europa League against Sporting Braga. They haven’t won their first leg in a quarter-final in any of their last five (D2 L3) but the last time they did win was against Athletic Club at Ibrox in March 1969 in the Fairs Cup.

Athletic Club have reached the quarter-final stage of a major European competition for the first time since 2015-16, when they were knocked out by Sevilla in the UEFA Europa League. The last time they progressed to the semi-final stage was in 2011-12 under Marcelo Bielsa, beating Schalke 4-2 in the first leg that season.

Rangers have lost three of their last six home matches in the UEFA Europa League (W2 D1), only one fewer than they lost in their first 25 home games in the competition (W14 D7 L4).