Rangers v Club Brugge: Back bold Belgians to pinch first leg lead at 16/5 | OneFootball

Rangers v Club BruggeTuesday August 19, 20:00 kick-offLive on Amazon Prime

It's been a hit-and-miss start to the season for new Rangers boss Russell Martin, but he's within one tie now of the Champions League group phase. It's a tough tie, however, against Belgian side Club Brugge.

Brugge made it through the group phase and beat Atalanta in the first knockout round before losing to Aston Villa in the last 16, so they've got European pedigree which is why they're 13/10 favourites to win ths first leg even though it's at Ibrox.

Rangers have beaten Panathinaikos and Viktoria Plzen to get this far, and both times thanks to their performances in Glasgow, beating the Greeks 2-0 and the Czechs 3-0.

So 13/8 for another home win is perfectly plausible despite the step-up in opposition, with Rangers winning 18 of 29 home games in Champions League qualifying.

Rangers have kept two clean sheets at home so far but I'd bank on both teams to score here, which you can back at 4/7, with Brugge scoring in eight of their last 10 competitive away games and five of six in last season's Champions League proper - including just down the road at Celtic Park.

There's no doubt Ibrox generates a fearsome atmosphere on Champions League nights, but Brugge have faced a few of those . They lost 3-1 at both Man City and AC Milan last season but were well in both of those games until the final half-hour.

Brugge also scored first before drawing 1-1 at Celtic and won 1-0 at Sturm Graz so they're fully equipped to handle the occasion.

The way Martin's team plays, I don't think they'll have capacity to try and control the game fully and keep a clean sheet and look for the odd goal, so I fancy Brugge to be lively in the press and catch them out on the break.

I'm looking forward to a few goals in this one but ultimately I think the Belgians will just have a bit too much on the night. Back them to take a lead back home for the second leg.