Rangers have an impressive record of winning 17 out of their last 24 home matches

Rangers will look to seal their place in the quarter-finals of the Europa League as they welcome Turkish giants Fenerbahce to Ibrox on Thursday night in the second leg of their last-16 tie.

Given their poor form domestically and the fact Fenerbahce were in the midst of an 18-match unbeaten run, not many, including myself, fancied Rangers to secure a first-leg advantage in Istanbul last Thursday.

However, once again, The Gers put in another magnificent performance in Europe’s secondary competition, as they defeated the Turkish giants 1-3.

Cyriel Dessers’ early strike was cancelled out by an acrobatic strike from early substitute Alexander Djiku on the half-hour mark, but a double from winger Vaclav Cerny meant Rangers left Istanbul with a two-goal advantage.

Barry Ferguson’s hosts have now lost just one of their previous seven Europa League contests (W4-D2-L1) – that stoppage time loss at Old Trafford on MD7 in the league phase – and will be confident of seeing the job through against a Fenerbahce side that has won just one of their last six European encounters on their travels.

These two sides last met in the 2001/02 season, and whilst Fenerbahce defeated Rangers 2-1 on aggregate, it was a goalless draw when the sides met at Ibrox, and a similar outcome would be welcome for the hosts.

Leon Balogun will hopefully come in from the start following Robin Propper’s nasty-looking head injury last week.

Jose Mourinho will be without the likes of Diego Carlos, Rodrigo Becau, Ismail Yuksek and Caglar Soyuncu due to injury, but the Ex-Manchester United midfielder is back from suspension.

Rangers: Butland, Yilmaz, Tavernier, Balogun, Souttar, Jefte, Raskin, Barron, Diomande, Cerny, Dessers.

Fenerbahce: Egribayat, Akcicek, Skriniar, Amrabat, Muldur, Fred, Szymanski, Kostic, Tadic, En-Nesryi, Dzeko.