Home / Football / Lisbon Favourites In Portugal After Grabbing Late Away Goal In The First Leg

Sporting Lisbon v Rangers Betting: Helder Postiga favourite to score first and end Scottish hopes

Rangers face an uphill task in the second leg of their last 32 Europa League tie with Sporting Lisbon on Thursday. Sporting Lisbon grabbed a late equaliser in Glasgow to earn a 1-1 draw and a valuable away goal and they are favourites to win this week at the Jose Alvalade Stadium. Boylesports have priced them at an industry best of 4/6 in the betting, whilst Rangers troubles are mirrored by their odds of 4/1, with the draw a 13/5 bet.

It has been a difficult week for Rangers and manager Walter Smith, who will be replaced by Ally McCoist at the end of the season, as their battle for silverware continues to falter. They were abysmal in their 3-0 defeat to bitter Old Firm rivals Celtic on Sunday, a result that leaves them eight points behind Celtic in the Scottish Premier League. And they face a tough task to maintain a challenge in Europe on Thursday after Matias Fernandez scored an 89th minute equaliser for Sporting at Ibrox last week.

They are decimated by injuries as Steven Naismith and Lee McCulloch have been ruled out and Nikica Jelavic is ineligible. Add to that the loss of top scorer Kenny Miller to Bursaspor and it is difficult to see where the goals are going to come from for the Scottish side. As a result we fancy the look of under 2.5 goals on Thursday at 4/6 in the betting with Boyles with neither side particularly prolific.

Much could depend on Vladimir Weiss in the goalscoring department and he is as long as 14/1 to score first. Rangers' record in Europe is poor of late as well with no away win in Europe, including the Champions League, in nine matches and they have only won two of six matches on Portuguese soil.

Sporting Lisbon also have problems as Marat Izmailov, James Valdes and Simon Vuckevic are out injured and they lost 2-0 to bitter rivals Benfica on Monday which has left them floundering in third in the Portuguese league. But with an advantage of an away goal and a record of five wins in six against Scottish clubs at home they are favourites.

Helder Postiga, much maligned during his time at Tottenham, has scored three goals in six Europa League matches and we fancy him to break the deadlock this week and he is a 9/2 bet to be first goalscorer with Boylesports.com. Lisbon have tended to strike early in Europe with ten of their fifteen goals coming before half time so a look at the double result of a half time Sporting win and full time Sporting win could be worthwhile at 6/4.

Ultimately, it is hard to see Rangers recovering from their abject defeat to Celtic at the weekend and McCoist could find he has a rebuilding job on his hands in the summer if they end the season without silverware. The 2-0 Lisbon win is available at 6/1 in the betting and could be the way to go as the Portuguese side look the more likely of two mediocre teams to score.

Sporting Lisbon v Rangers Form

Check the season's statistics for both Sporting Lisbon and Rangers plus the odds ahead of Thursday's match.

Sporting Lisbon Stats | Rangers Stats

Sporting Lisbon v Rangers Tips

Tip #1: Helder Postiga to score first @ 9/2 with Boylesports.com
Tip #2: Under 2.5 goals in the match @ 4/6 with Boylesports.com
Tip #3: Double result of a half time Sporting win and full time Sporting win @ 6/4 with Boylesports.com

Sporting Lisbon v Rangers Odds

Match Betting

4/6 Sporting Lisbon
13/5 Draw
4/1 Rangers

Correct Score Odds

9/2 Sporting Lisbon 1-0
6/1 Sporting Lisbon 2-0
15/2 Sporting Lisbon 2-1
7/1 Draw 0-0
6/1 Draw 1-1
20/1 Draw 2-2
10/1 Rangers 1-0
25/1 Rangers 2-0
16/1 Rangers 2-1

First Goalscorer Odds

9/2 Helder Postiga
9/2 Yannick Djalo
11/2 Carlos Saleiro
7/1 No Goalscorer
8/1 David Healy
8/1 Kyle Lafferty
9/1 Matias Fernandez
10/1 El Hadji Diouf
12/1 John Fleck
14/1 Pedro Mendes
14/1 Maniche

Odds supplied by Boylesports.com, plus a variety of other betting markets on this match and all the week's Europa League matches, including live betting in-running.

Posted: Wednesday, 23rd February 2011
Author: Chris James
Tags: europa league, sporting lisbon, rangers, helder postiga, boylesports,

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