Preview: Man United face Rangers in ‘Battle of Britain’ test

Once upon a time, this would have been a massive Champions League fixture, now, the two most successful league sides in Scotland and England face off in the Europa League on Thursday.


By Alex Roberts


Both sides are in the automatic qualification spots, sitting in seventh and eighth respectively, but that could change very quickly, with five other sides able to leapfrog both United and Rangers in the next round of fixtures.

Rúben Amorim hasn’t exactly set the world alight since replacing Erik ten Hag, and Philippe Clement is seemingly one game away from getting the sack at any given time. It’s not quite ‘El Sackio’, but it’s about as close as it gets.

Happy memories for Amad Diallo

Not even arguably Man United’s best player at the moment, Diallo spent the second half of the 2021-22 season on loan at Rangers, banging in three goals, and providing a single assist in his 13 games.

Diallo player traits

He’s come a long way since then and is almost single handedly dragging Man United out of a potential Premier League relegation battle. A sentence no one here at FotMob thought they would ever write.

Unfortunately for United, he was powerless to stop Brighton in their 3-1 defeat to the South Coast side over the weekend, but he is still their only real big game player at the moment, scoring a late hat-trick against Southampton, a winner against Man City, and an equaliser vs Liverpool. He’ll be wanting to do the same against his former loan club.

A much-needed goal scorer

Hamza Igamane is really starting to establish himself at Rangers. Having supplanted streaky striker Cyriel Dessers as Clement’s preferred option up top, he’s got eight goals in his last ten games across all competitions.

One of those goals came against Premier League opposition, the opener against former Celtic boss Ange Postecoglu and his struggling Tottenham side in their previous Europe League fixture. 

He’s incredibly versatile, capable of playing anywhere across the frontline, but feels most comfortable as either a left-winger or a striker. If we were to compare him to anyone, it would be Marcus Rashford.

Igamane SPFL shot map, 2024/25

Onana, not again

After his most recent howler in the defeat to Brighton, André Onana has now made 10 errors leading to goals in his nearly two years at the club. In comparison, David de Gea made 17 over 12 years.

Given Altay Bayındır’s performance in their FA Cup third round win over Arsenal, Amorim has serious options should he decide to drop Onana. The Turkish international appears to be his preferred choice in domestic cup competitions, it wouldn’t be surprising if he gets a chance against Rangers too.

The world’s most prolific right-back

Ok, that might be a sweeping statement, but James Tavernier is an anomaly. While this season he’s not scoring like he used to, just three goals and seven assists in his 31 appearances, he is a massive asset for Rangers.

Deadly from almost every dead ball situation, the Rangers captain could cause some serious damage against Man United, who have a history of not being particularly solid from defensive set pieces.

Tavernier player traits

United conceded a whopping 17 goals from set pieces, excluding penalties, in 2024 and they haven’t started 2025 particularly well either. Of course, that’s not all down to Amorim, but he hasn’t done much to change it.

Prediction

All those 60+ year-old pundits will be incredibly excited about a ‘Battle of Britian’, but in all honestly, they’re rarely a competition. Despite United’s poor form, we’re going to go with a 3-1 win for the English side.


(Cover image from IMAGO)


You can follow every game from the Europa League with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, player ratings, and a new super-intuitive knockout stage bracket. Download the free app here.