UEL: Rapid take on Glasgow Rangers, Villarreal and Spartak Moscow!

On Thursday evening in Bucharest, the fabled Rapid spirit came to the fore: despite a 1:2 defeat on the night, a second half improvement combined with no little grit and determination was enough to see the Hütteldorfers safely through into the group stages. The joy spread across the faces of the Rapid faithful at the end of the match had made the nerve-jangling thriller in Romania all worthwhile. Despite touching back down at Schwechat at 04:00 in the morning and having had only a couple of hours sleep, everyone was wide awake just a few hours later: at midday on Friday the draw for the group stages of the UEFA Europa League was taking place, with Rapid Vienna in pot 2. At the UEFA buildings in Monaco we were drawn against the following opponents:  

From pot 1 we drew Villarreal: familiar Spanish opponents, against whom we were drawn in the group phase in 2015, winning 2:1 in Vienna and losing narrowly 0:1 in Spain. From pot 3 came Spartak Moscow, and from pot 4 Glasgow Rangers!

We have played twice against all three clubs previously in European competition:

CF Villarreal:
EL group phase 2015: 2:1 (h) / 0:1 (a)
2 Games / 1 Win / 0 draws / 1 defeat: goals 2:2

Spartak Moscow:
European Cup Winners’ Cup 1966/67, quarter final: 1:1 (a) / 1:0 (h)
2 games / 1 win / 1 draw / 0 defeats: goals: 2:1

Glasgow Rangers:
European Cup 1964/65, quarter finals: 0:1 (a) / 0:2 (h)
2 games: 0 wins / 0 draws / 2 defeats: goals: 0:3

Information on ticketing will be made available in the course of the coming week by Club Service Manager Andy Marek. We ask for your patience. As always, for club members and season ticket holders the will be pre-sale options!

(gw)