Steven Gerrard's men beat Rapid Wien at Ibrox to put the Glasgow club top of Group G.
It was a special night at Ibrox, as Rangers made a statement by beating Rapid Wien 3-1 to go top of Group G and lay down a marker of their intent in Europe this season.
Two goals from Alfredo Morelos and a penalty from James Tavernier mean that the Gers have four points and look good to make the knockout stages of a European competition for the first time since 2011.
Rangers seal their win at the death!
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 4, 2018
An outrageous assist from Daniel Candeias
Steven Gerrard absolutely LOVES IT!
European football at Ibrox is well and truly back! pic.twitter.com/hNABtTcBkD
It means that Rangers are now just 9/4 to top the group, just behind Villarreal, who are a best price of 6/5.
In the overall scheme of things, we may also be seeing a slight power shift in Glasgow, as for the first time there are some bookies pricing up Rangers at a shorter price than their rivals Celtic to win the Europa League.
Two bookies have Rangers at 80/1 with Celtic 90/1, with another two having them both at 80/1.
As it is, you can get 100/1 best price on Brendan Rodgers’ side winning the tournament, with 200/1 the best price on the Gers.
It seems that the latter is a popular bet at the moment, and combined with Celtic’s current struggles, there is one team dominating the other in terms of popularity in the market.
We’ve seen three times as many bets on Rangers to win the Europa League compared to Celtic, and with the pair’s next European games at home to Spartak and away to RB Leipzig respectively, this trend could well continue.
Oddschecker Spokesman George Elek: “Rangers are flying in Europe – Now unbeaten in ten, they beat Rapid Wien at Ibrox to send them top of Group G. They have had three times as many bets as Celtic to win the Europa League and are shorter odds than their rivals with some bookies – This could be the year where we see the gap between the Old Firm reduce spectacularly.”
