Rangers v Benfica live match stream

Our live match stream ahead of Thursday night’s Europa League fixture Rangers v Benfica is now up, kicking off at 8:00 BST.

You can keep an eye on the commentary as it happens below, but first, we take a preview into the fixture, the lineups, predictions and much more.

In the previous games, Rangers earned themselves a 4-0 win over Aberdeen. The Gers’ winning run at Ibrox continues, having conceded just one home goal this season; Ryan Kent scored one and set another up with James Tavernier scoring again from the penalty spot; Rangers now 11 points clear of Celtic at the top of the table.

Benfica managed to beat Paredes in the Taca de Portugal competition. Meanwhile in the league, they sit 3rd, taking 15 points from 7 games, level on points with Leicester’ opponents Braga who are second, and four behind leaders Sporting CP.

Victory on Thursday night would see the Eagles move three points above Rangers at the top of Group D and confirm their place in the last 32 of the competition.

PRESS CONFERENCE:

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard being asked – Any new team news?

Ryan Jack is a doubt for tomorrow’s game. We know on Ryan until later on today whether he’ll be available or not.

Zungu will be missing as well. We’re hoping to have him back in a week or 10 days time. He’s not got a big issue but unfortunately he’s not available for us tomorrow and the rest is as it was for the weekend basically.

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard being asked – Financial importance of Europa League

I think the board support has been fantastic since the first day I came in. In terms of the numbers, you have to take certain things into consideration in terms of the timing, they could have looked very much different if we accepted a bid for one of our assets.

An important thing is this team is in much better shape than it was when we came through the door. The team is littered with big assets, the team is worth a lot of money now compared to what it was. In terms of the first part of your question, Europe is always important for a club like Rangers. In terms of the history, the big European nights that have gone before. For the supporters, it’s what they enjoy, watching their team in Europe, travelling near and far, following the team. From a football point of view there’s always a responsibility as the Rangers manager to continue to do well year on year. If that means we make more money or we go further in competition and it helps from a financial point of view then that’s great, but first and foremost it’s to reward our fantastic support with trips around Europe to follow the team.

The board and myself are on the same page, we’re happy with where the team is at at the moment but we both know there’s a lot of work to do to get where we want to be.

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard being asked – Sensing a determination to get over the line

I can definitely feel a determination within the group and within the team but I’ve felt that from the first day we reported back. I wouldn’t describe our performance as great, there was period of the game that was great. There was big positives to take but big positives as well. It’s a game we’ve looked at in great detail to see where we went right and where we went wrong as well. We need to try and use that experience going into this 90 minutes. A lot has been said about Benfica about what they’ve got available and what they haven’t but one thing for certain is the eleven starters they pick will be a real big challenge for us tomorrow night.

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard being asked – European momentum breed confidence?

Winning games and going on unbeaten runs definitely breeds confidence in the group. Looking into tomorrow’s game, the players have experienced playing against these players and this team not so long ago. We’ve shown, certainly for big parts of the game, we can match Benfica and certainly compete. This is a game the players are looking forward to. We have major respect individually and as a group for Benfica, we’re talking about high level players, a high level club and a manager with big experience. We expect a tough game tomorrow but a game we’re looking forward to and excited about and we couldn’t be going into it in a better place when you think of the run of games we’ve been on.

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard being asked – How has he improved things at the club

It’s an ongoing thing we’re trying to do. The priority is always the team and the squad, that’s been a process over the last couple of years of trying to build and try get a squad that’s capable of competing on all fronts. That’s been the biggest challenge and it’s ongoing. We are still actively looking in the recruitment department to keep improving. We’re still overseeing the academy to keep making it better down there as well and alongside that, we’re trying to make the training ground and the stadium fresher and up to date. It’s a constant thing to keep improving the club. It’s fantastic to have Ross’ support in all them areas and more importantly above us, is the board as well. The dialogue and the communication and togetherness in trying to keep improving this club for the supporters is ongoing.

FORM:

Rangers Europa League form: WWD
Rangers form (all competitions): WWWDWW

Benfica Europa League form: WWD
Benfica form (all competitions): WWLDLW

LINEUPS:

Rangers possible starting lineup:
McGregor; Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun, Barisic; Arfield, Jack, Kamara; Hagi, Morelos, Kent

Benfica possible starting lineup:
Vlachodimos; Goncalves, Jardel, Vertonghen, Grimaldo; Rafa, Pires, Taarabt, Everton; Pizzi; Seferovic

SportsMole predicts:

Rangers, who have scored 15 goals in their last three matches in all competitions, are oozing confidence heading into Thursday night’s match with Benfica and could come out on top against a Portuguese side struggling to find consistency.

Score prediction: Rangers 2-1 Benfica

Now it’s time to keep updated with our Rangers v Benfica live match stream with kick off at 8:00pm BST…