What channel is Rangers v Bayer Leverkusen on? Ibrox friendly match info, TV details, kick-off time

Michael Beale will lead his Rangers side out for the first time on Saturday when they host German side Bayer Leverkusen at Ibrox in a friendly.

It begins a new era in Govan with the 42-year-old having replaced Giovanni van Bronckhorst. The Dutchman was sacked last month during the break for the World Cup after an underwhelming start to the season which has left the club nine points behind rivals Celtic at the top of the Premiership. Beale will get to make an early impression against high-quality opposition. Leverkusen are no strangers to Ibrox having played there in the Europa League before football shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak.

After qualifying for the Champions League with a third-place finish in the Bundesliga last season, Leverkusen are having a worse time of it than Rangers. They sit 12th in the German top-flight but did manage to finish third in their Champions League group with Porto, Atletico Madrid and Club Brugge.

Match details

Who: Rangers v Bayer Leverkusen

What: Friendly

Where: Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow

When: Saturday, December 10. Kick-off 1pm.

Rangers face Bayer Leverkusen at Ibrox in a friendly. (Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)Rangers face Bayer Leverkusen at Ibrox in a friendly. (Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)
Rangers face Bayer Leverkusen at Ibrox in a friendly. (Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)

How to watch

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The match is being broadcast around the world, with the exception of Germany, by RangersTV.

Last meeting

The teams met twice before in European competition, both across two legs. The first came in the 1998/99 UEFA Cup. Rangers won 3-2 on aggregate in the second round to set up a tie with Param. The latest was in the 2020 Europa League. The home leg of the last-16 match was lost 3-1 in March but due to the pandemic the second leg in Germany wasn't played until August with Rangers losing 1-0.

Team news

Both sides are missing a number of players. Rangers have had up to ten players missing. Kemar Roofe has returned to training, while Beale will hope to call on the likes of Ridvan Yilmaz, Tom Lawrance, Ianis Hagi, Antonio Colak, Ianis Hagi and Connor Goldson sooner rather than later. Hagi, as well as Filip Helander and John Souttar, will take time to get up to speed having not featured or barely featured at all this season. Borna Barisic won’t be available due to his involvement at the World Cup as part of Croatia’s squad.

Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso may be without Charles Aranguiz, Timothy Fous-Mensah, Patrik Schick and Joshua Eze, all of whom have had injury issues. There will be no Ibrox minutes for ex-Celtic Jeremie Frimpong who is at the World Cup with the Netherlands, as well as Argentina’s Exequiel Palacios. Piero Hincapié and Sardar Azmoun were also part of the Ecuador and Iran World Cup squads.

Anything else?

Leverkusen are managed by former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich star Xabi Alonso. The celebrated midfielder took over from Gerardo Seoane at the start of October and they began to put a run of form together ahead of the break for the World Cup with three consecutive wins in the Bundesliga. Alonso, who won two European Championships and a World Cup with Spain, had started his coaching career with Real Sociedad B.

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