RANGERS have been drawn against Slavia Prague in the last 16 of the Europa League, with Steven Gerrard’s side traveling to the Czech Republic for the first leg on Thursday 11 March before welcoming the Czechs back at Ibrox the following week. 

Here’s everything you need to know about Rangers’ next European opponents. 

Glasgow Times:

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How did they reach the last 16? 

In impressive fashion, it has to be said. Any Rangers fans who felt relief wash over them after their club dodged heavy-hitters like Ajax or AC Milan are about to be brought back down to earth rather abruptly. Apologies in advance. 

Slavia Prague were knocked out of this year's Champions League qualifiers at the play-off stage by Midtjylland. Remember them? Rangers blitzed past the Danes 7-3 on aggregate during last season’s Europa League qualifiers. Maybe this Czech mob aren’t all they’re cracked up to be? 

Sadly not, Rangers fans. A glance at their record in European record this term suggests that Midtjylland tie is little more than an aberration. Home and away victories over Nice in the group stage were just that, while the games against Hapoel Be’er Sheva – the Israeli side that eliminated Motherwell in the preliminary rounds – were more finely balanced. Away from home, Slavia Prague lost 3-1 but in the reverse fixture, they won 3-0.  

They also managed a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen at home – you know, the same Bayer Leverkusen who breezed past Rangers back in August – albeit with the help of Karim Bellarabi’s 18th-minute dismissal for the visitors. Over in Germany, Leverkusen exacted their revenge and won 4-0. 

That meant Slavia had to settle for second spot and a tie with Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City in the last 32. They held them to a goalless draw in Prague before second-half goals from Lukas Provod and Abdallah Sima at the King Power Stadium sent them through to the next round. 

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How are they getting on domestically? 

Pretty well, by all accounts. Slavia Prague are 20 games into the Czech domestic season and they’ve opened up an eight-point gap with their cross-city rivals, Sparta. They also happen to be unbeaten in the league this season and boast a goal difference of +46. Not shabby at all. 

They battered their rivals 3-0 when the two sides last met back in December and while recent draws against Pribram and Teplice – two sides mired in a relegation dogfight – will be a concern to manager Jindrich Trpisovsky, they appear to be on track for a third consecutive championship crown. 

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Do they have European pedigree? 

You betcha. They’ve never made it beyond the semi-final stage but have a long history of going deep in European competitions. In 1996, they reached the final four of the UEFA Cup before losing out 2-0 to Bordeaux and they made it to the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1998, where they were eliminated by Stuttgart. 

More recently, Slavia Prague reached the last eight of the Europa League in the 2018/19 campaign, knocking out perennial winners Sevilla along the way, before losing out narrowly to Chelsea in a 5-3 thriller. 

Last season, Slavia qualified for the group stage of the Champions League for the first time since 2007 but finished bottom of a group containing Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan with two points. 

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Who are their key players? 

Goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar is a big player for the Czechs. He’s kept 16 clean sheets in 30 appearances this season. Remarkably, he even has a goal to his name – he converted a penalty in a 3-0 win over Pribram back in August. 

In midfield, winger Lukas Provod is a player who will have to be watched closely. He’s got five goals and 10 assists in 27 appearances this season, while Romanian playmaker Nicolae Stanciu is another with the ability to make things happen, with five goals and six assists to his name. 

Up front, the forwards Jan Kutcha and Abdallah Sima will provide the greatest threat to Rangers. The former is a 24-year-old centre-forward who tends to play at the tip of the Slavia Prague attack, while the latter is a 19-year-old who generally plays on the right wing. Kutcha has 13 goals and six assists in 25 games this season, while Sima has 15 goals and five assists in 23.