Rangers v Porto facts

Rangers and Porto are locked together on four points in Group G, two behind leaders Young Boys and one ahead of Feyenoord, as they renew acquaintance in Glasgow two weeks after a 1-1 draw at the Estádio do Dragão, where Alfredo Morelos's tenth European goal of the campaign equalised Porto's opener from his Colombian compatriot Luis Díaz.

• Rangers kicked off their group campaign with a 1-0 home win against Feyenoord before surrendering a lead to lose 2-1 at Young Boys. Likewise, Porto won at home on Matchday 1 – 2-1 against the Swiss champions – but lost their second fixture away – 0-2 in Rotterdam.

Previous meetings
• There had been four previous UEFA encounters between the clubs prior to Matchday 3, in the 1983/84 European Cup Winners' Cup second round and the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League group stage, Rangers winning both games in Scotland – 2-1 and 3-2 respectively. Porto, however, claimed the 1983/84 tie on away goals (1-0 h) en route to an appearance in that season's final, which they lost to Juventus.

• Rangers are unbeaten at home to Portuguese clubs, winning the first five of the seven matches and drawing the two most recent – both against Sporting CP, 0-0 in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup quarter-finals and 1-1 in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League round of 32; both ties were won by Rangers.

• Porto have played five previous UEFA matches in Scotland, winning two and losing three, all the defeats in Glasgow, including 1-0 at Celtic in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League. They did, however, overcome the Bhoys 3-2 after extra time in the following season's UEFA Cup final in Seville.

Form guide
Rangers
• Rangers qualified for 2019/20 European competition as runners-up to Celtic in last season's Scottish Premiership. They also won four qualifying ties to reach the UEFA Europa League group stage for the first time, but just one win and six points prevented them from making further progress.

• Once again Rangers were obliged to come through four qualifiers to reach this season's group stage, defeating St Joseph's, Progrès Niederkorn, Midtjylland and, in the play-offs, Legia Warszawa, a late Morelos winner in the second leg at Ibrox providing the only goal of the tie.

• Rangers are undefeated in 14 home European matches, winning ten of them including all five this season. They have conceded just five goals in those 14 matches and no visiting team has scored more than once in any of the Gers' last 20 UEFA competition encounters in Glasgow, stretching back to Matchday 5 of the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League when they lost 0-2 to Stuttgart.

Porto
• Domestic runners-up in league and cup last season – to Benfica and Sporting respectively – Porto also reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, where they were beaten by eventual winners Liverpool (0-2 a, 1-4 h).

• The Dragons' bid to return to the UEFA Champions League group stage this term – for a record-equalling 24th time – ended in the third qualifying round when they lost on away goals to Russian debutants Krasnodar, winning the first leg in Russia 1-0 but losing the home return 2-3 after being three goals down at half-time. That defeat despatched them directly into the UEFA Europa League group stage, where they have competed just once before – in 2010/11, when they won the trophy.

• Since that 2010/11 triumph Porto have played 13 matches in the competition, winning just three and losing six. Their UEFA Europa League group stage record, however, is W6 D2 L1, featuring three wins out of four on the road, the exception this season’s defeat at Feyenoord.

Links and trivia 
• Morelos, who is a Colombia national team-mate of Díaz and fellow Porto midfielder Mateus Uribe, was the top scorer in this season's UEFA Europa League qualifying phase with eight goals.

• Pepe got both Porto goals in their 3-2 defeat by Rangers at Ibrox in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League.

• Rangers manager Steven Gerrard scored a penalty in a 4-1 win for Liverpool at Anfield against Porto in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage. He was also on the winning side for the Merseysiders against Porto in the 2000/01 UEFA Cup quarter-finals (0-0 a, 2-0 h).

• Gerrard and his Porto counterpart Sérgio Conceição were opponents for England and Portugal respectively in a friendly at Villa Park, Birmingham in September 2002 (1-1).

• Porto are one of three clubs to have won the UEFA Europa League on their debut appearance, the others being Atlético Madrid in the inaugural 2009/10 competition and Chelsea in 2012/13. They are also one of three former UEFA Europa League winners in this season's group stage, along with Sevilla and Manchester United.

• Rangers are one of only two clubs to have reached this season's group stage after beginning their UEFA Europa League journey in the first qualifying round, Malmö being the other.

• Rangers defeated Hearts 3-0 on Sunday to reach the final of the Scottish League Cup on 8 December at Hampden, where they will face Celtic. The Light Blues are bidding to lift the trophy for the first time since 2010/11 and for a record 28th time in all.

The coaches
• A Liverpool legend with 186 goals in 710 appearances for the Anfield club, most of them as captain, Gerrard launched his managerial career at Glasgow giants Rangers in May 2018. An England international for 14 years, accumulating 114 caps and 21 goals, the dynamic midfielder won the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League with Liverpool as well as both domestic cups. After an 18-month end-of-career spell with LA Galaxy he returned to coach Liverpool's youth team before the job at Ibrox lured him to Scotland, where he led the Gers to second place in the 2018/19 Premiership.

• A Portuguese international winger of some repute who scored 12 goals in 56 appearances for his country including a memorable hat-trick against holders Germany in a 3-0 win at UEFA EURO 2000, Sérgio Conceição played for a variety of clubs, winning Serie A with Lazio and three Portuguese Liga titles in two spells with Porto, where he was appointed as head coach in June 2017, replacing Nuno Espírito Santo following a promising stint in France with Nantes. He led Porto to another league title in 2017/18 and the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals the following season.