RANGERS will face Royal Antwerp in the last 32 of the Europa League after the draw for the first knockout stage took place in Nyon earlier today.
Having topped their group and without a single defeat to their name in continental competition this term, Steven Gerrard’s men will fancy their chances of progressing to the next round by overcoming the Belgians.
Here’s everything you need to know about them.
How did they qualify?
Antwerp’s upward trajectory over the last few seasons has been remarkable. After 12 years in the second tier, Wim de Decker guided the club to the title in 2017 to seal promotion to the Jupiler League.
His replacement, Romanian great Laszlo Boloni, carried on the good work of his predecessor and led the team to eighth, then sixth, then fourth – sealing qualification for continental competition.
Boloni also brought Antwerp’s 28-year wait for a major honour to an end in August’s delayed Belgian Cup final, where the Great Old defeated Jupiler League champions Club Brugge 1-0.
Boloni then upped sticks and joined Gent – where he would last just three games before getting sacked – with Ivan Leko taking the reins at Antwerp and leading them into Europe after Boloni was knocked out during the qualifying rounds last season.
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How have they performed in Europe?
Royal Antwerp qualified directly for the group stages of the tournament and were drawn alongside Tottenham, LASK and Ludogorets in Group J. They finished the section in second place with four wins from six, including a memorable triumph over Jose Mourinho’s Spurs at home on matchday 2.
They suffered a 1-0 defeat at home to LASK but won the return fixture 2-0 in Austria, and home and away victories over Bulgaria’s Ludogorets sealed their place in the knockout stage.
Antwerp don’t have a long history of competing in Europe, with the side of the mid-90s the club’s high-water mark on the continental stage.
They knocked Dundee United out of the Uefa Cup in 1989/90 and reached the final of the Cup Winner’s Cup in 1993 before losing to Parma, and have not progressed beyond the qualifying rounds of European competition since.
How are they getting on domestically?
Leko’s side currently sit seventh in the league approaching the halfway stage of the season but the table is particularly congested here: only three points separate Standard Liege in eighth and Beerschot in third.
Antwerp got off to a slow start this term, winning one of their opening four games, before embarking on a streak of five victories in their next six games.
However, Leko has hit a sticky patch of late, with Antwerp recording just one win in their last six league outings.
The fixture list hasn’t exactly been kind of late but if Leko is to repeat the feats of his predecessor and qualify for continental competition once more, he will need to arrest his side’s domestic rut.
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