Rangers welcome Ludogorets to Ibrox Stadium on Thursday evening, January 22, 2026, for a Europa League encounter with little at stake but pride. The Scottish side sit 33rd in the league phase table with just one point from six matches, while the Bulgarian visitors are also out of knockout contention. Rangers enter as heavy favorites having hit strong domestic form under manager Danny Röhl, who took charge in late October. Ludogorets have not played competitive football since mid-December and arrive in Glasgow off the back of a winter break.
Rangers have been ruthless on home soil in recent weeks. They thrashed Annan Athletic 5-0 on Friday in the Scottish Cup, with Bojan Miovski hitting a hat-trick alongside strikes from Kieran Dowell and Thelo Aasgaard. Before that, they doubled up Aberdeen with consecutive 2-0 victories on January 6 and January 11, both in the Scottish Premiership. Their domestic resurgence even includes a 3-1 derby triumph over Celtic on January 3. Despite languishing in the Europa League, Rangers sit third in the Scottish Premiership with 44 points from 22 matches. Röhl will be without defender John Souttar, who has a slight knock, while new signings Andreas Skov Olsen, Tochi Chukwuani, and Tuur Rommens are ineligible for European action.
Ludogorets travel to Scotland woefully short of match sharpness. Their last competitive fixture was a 3-3 draw with PAOK on December 11 in the Europa League, and they have since played only friendlies during a Turkish training camp. They drew 2-2 with Rakow on Wednesday and beat Paksi 3-2 on January 11, but manager Per-Mathias Høgmo has downplayed expectations. The 14-time Bulgarian champions sit third in their domestic league with 37 points from 19 matches, trailing Levski Sofia by seven points. Key midfielder Aguibou Camara remains sidelined until April with a muscle issue, and a pair of Swedish defenders are also unavailable.
Høgmo admitted his squad faces an uphill battle at Ibrox. "It's clear we will be nowhere near 100 per cent ready for playing Rangers," he said. "Now we have a few days to start preparing to play Rangers and work on tactics against them. The players won't be match fit either, but we will try our best." Röhl, meanwhile, stressed the importance of securing points for Scotland's UEFA coefficient, which could impact future Champions League campaigns. "We want to show our form in this competition," he stated, confirming he will field a strong lineup despite the match being a dead rubber.
Rangers and Ludogorets have no previous meetings, making this their first competitive encounter. The lack of history adds an element of intrigue to an otherwise low-stakes fixture. Rangers have endured a torrid Europa League campaign, failing to win any of their six league phase matches and picking up just a single point from a draw. Ludogorets fared slightly better but still fell short of the knockout rounds.
My model backs Over 2.5 Goals at 4/5 (1.80 decimal) with a 72.51% probability. I predict a Rangers 2-1 victory, with expected goals projecting Rangers at 2.43 and Ludogorets at 1.34. The xG gap of over one goal reflects Rangers' home advantage and superior recent form against an opponent severely lacking match fitness. Rangers have scored in all four of their recent matches, netting 12 goals across those fixtures.
