Victory imperative for Ibrox rivals

The two teams with most work to do to qualify for the knockout rounds from UEFA Champions League Group G meet at Ibrox where victory is imperative for both Rangers FC and VfB Stuttgart.

• Four of the eight games in the section have resulted in draws although Rangers looked to be heading for their first victory of the campaign on Matchday 4 when Lee McCulloch scored with an emphatic 79th-minute drive at FC Unirea Urziceni. However, Marius Onofraş struck with an explosive equaliser two minutes from time to leave Rangers at the foot of the table on just two points.

• Stuttgart, meanwhile, needed a late Zdravko Kuzmanović leveller at Sevilla FC to put them on three points, two behind Unirea.

Previous meetings
• On Matchday 1 on 16 September, hosts Stuttgart took the lead through Pavel Pogrebnyak before Madjid Bougherra levelled for Rangers with 13 minutes remaining.

• The teams met in the same UEFA Champions League group two years ago and again in 2003/04. On both occasions Rangers won their home games 2-1. On 19 September 2007, Mario Gómez shot the visitors ahead but Charlie Adam replied for Rangers and Jean-Claude Darcheville converted a penalty to secure victory for the hosts.

• The teams were:
Rangers: McGregor, Hutton, Cuéllar, Weir, Papac, Ferguson, Hemdani, Thomson, Adam (Beasley 67), Darcheville (Novo 83), Whittaker (Faye 86).
Stuttgart: Schäfer, Osorio, Tasci, Meira, Pardo, Boka, Cacau, Hilbert, Da Silva (Ewerthon 70), Khedira (Baştürk 78), Gómez.

• The return fixture two months later ended 3-2 to Stuttgart. The teams were:
Stuttgart: Schäfer, Beck, Meira, Hitzlsperger, Pardo, Delpierre, Cacau (Tasci 88), Hilbert (Ewerthon 83), Marica, Magnin, Khedira (Da Silva 46).
Rangers: McGregor, Hutton, Weir, Cuéllar, Papac, Ferguson, Hemdani, Thomson, Darcheville (Cousin 82), Beasley (Naismith 49), McCulloch (Adam 26).

• In the 2003/04 group stage, Rangers won 2-1 at Ibrox and Stuttgart 1-0 in Germany.

Match background
• Rangers have a formidable home record against German visitors, losing only two of the 21 competitive fixtures, with six drawn. Their last defeat came in the 1989/90 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round with FC Bayern München when they went down 3-1.

• Before their successive 4-1 home defeats on Matchdays 2 and 3 against Sevilla and Unirea, the Scottish champions had shown impressive form at Ibrox in UEFA competition, suffering only a single loss in 20 games including qualifiers.

• That reverse came in their previous home game before the start of this campaign, a 3-0 loss to Olympique Lyonnais which means they are on a run of three successive home defeats in the competition.

• Stuttgart's two 1-1 draws in their previous away games in the group have improved their recent travelling record in official European fixtures. They lost all three games on foreign soil in the 2007/08 group stage and in last season's UEFA Cup lost two and drew one of their three away games. They have not won any of their last nine fixtures on an opponent's ground in the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup proper.

Team ties
• Aleksandr Hleb featured in both 2003/04 meetings between the sides, as did Stuttgart sporting director Horst Heldt, setting up Timo Wenzel for the only goal in Germany. Now at Rangers' Glasgow rivals Celtic FC, Andreas Hinkel was also in VfB's starting lineups.

• Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel played the full 90 minutes for Bayern against Rangers in Munich in a 1999/2000 UEFA Champions League Group F encounter. The German team won 1-0.

• Pogrebnyak was suspended when FC Zenit St. Petersburg beat Rangers 2-0 in the 2008 UEFA Cup final but his ten goals en route to Manchester made him the competition's top scorer that season.

• Kuzmanović was part of the ACF Fiorentina team beaten by Rangers on penalties in that season's UEFA Cup semi-finals.

• Rangers midfielder Steven Davis and Stuttgart's Thomas Hitzlsperger were team-mates at Aston Villa FC in 2004/05.