Rangers’ victories over Aberdeen have been sweet and often for fans of the Ibrox club.
Tomorrow, Scottish football’s Super Sunday arrives as Rangers play the Dons once more at Hampden in the Betfred Cup semi-final. The other semi, for those of you who may somehow not know, is between Hearts and Celtic at Murrayfield.
All eyes will be on Glasgow for Gers fans, however, as they look to continue a sensationally good record against Aberdeen. Rangers have lost just five out of their last 31 meetings with the Dons.
Winning in Glasgow has been something of a problem for Aberdeen over many years now. Against Rangers, they’ve won just once out of their last 36 trips outside of the Granite City. That win came two seasons ago when Rangers were under Pedro Caixinha in a 2-1 success at Ibrox.
James Tavernier has certainly enjoyed himself this season. The Rangers defender has netted eight penalties out of eight in competitive action this season. He’s also something of a talisman against the Dons too.
The Gers captain scored on opening day at Pittodrie from the spot, and also netted four times in his last five games against the Dons. Three have come from the penalty spot.
Goal-scoring shouldn’t be a problem for this Rangers side regardless. Even though Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty are missing, Ryan Kent is the man in-form. The winger has now netted in both of Rangers’ last two domestic games. Those two goals were part of an even bigger run for Rangers of 10 goals scored in their last three matches prior to the Spartak Moscow clash.
Rangers’ defence is going to have to keep it tight tomorrow in what’s going to be a close contest also. Fortunately, Aberdeen’s goal-scoring against Rangers has been lackluster say the least.
Out of the last 14 matches against Rangers, Aberdeen have only scored more than one goal on two occasions. Rangers have kept two clean sheets the last two times Aberdeen have made the trip to Glasgow.
The match will be Steven Gerrard’s first trip to Hampden Park as a manager. The Gers boss never played at the national stadium, but Rangers will have terrible memories of the venue from recent seasons. Rangers have lost on their last four visits four visits to Hampden, and it’s a record needing sorted.
Facing Aberdeen is one of the big rivalries in Scotland where the stats all favour Rangers. Now, it’s down to Gerrard and his troops to back it up with a good performance tomorrow.
