Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland in Bern

It’s chilly in the Swiss capital but there is no doubt the atmosphere will be fiery when the game begins.

Young Boys will not only be looking to retain their excellent unbeaten record at the Stade de Suisse that stretches back 12 months they will also be keen to get their first points in the board in this Europa League group.

The artificial pitch has been heavily watered and if the Rangers players have any doubts in their head about the surface they will need to remove these quickly from their thoughts.

Despite Rangers not taking up their allocation of tickets, a few hundred fans have made their way to Bern and they will be keeping their fingers crossed for a similar performance and result to the opening group match against Feyenoord.

Neil McCann
Former Scotland winger on BBC Sportsound

Young Boys defender Frederik Sorensen watched fellow Danes Brian Laudrup and Peter Lovenkrands play for Rangers when he was growing up and can see the influence of manager Steven Gerrard on the present Ibrox side.

"Rangers maybe have his mentality out on the pitch," he said. "They are very aggressive."

Sorensen, who is on loan from Cologne, also watched Rangers' 7-3 aggregate win over Midtjylland in Europa League qualifying and has got the lowdown on the Glasgow side from his friends in the Danish side.

"They are a typical British team - they always come with a good mentality and a good physicality," he said.

Image source, SNS

Young Boys head coach Gerardo Seoane praised Rangers' "high intensity" in their opening group win over Feyenoord.

"But I think it will be different as it is an away game for Rangers," he said, suggesting that his side will concentrate on preventing the visitors getting the ball to their strikers.

"Rangers are very good at counter-attacking, so we will have to keep the ball well."

While Seoane was "impressed" with both Rangers and Feyenoord, he rates Porto, who beat the Swiss champions 2-1 in their opening game, as group favourites because of their recent Champions League experience.

Image source, SNS

This will be the second time Rangers have played Young Boys in a matter of hours.

The two sides met this afternoon in Bern as part of the Uefa Youth League, with Rangers securing a 3-3 draw.

Leading 3-1 at one stage in the tie, an injury-time leveller for the hosts denied the young Scottish side the victory.

The winners will face either Ludogorets Razgrad or Slovan Bratislava in the next round.

Former Rangers forward Gordon Smith spent a season in Switzerland with Basel, but before heading on travels that also took him to England and Austria, he joined the Ibrox club from Kilmarnock just in time to be involved in a win over Young Boys on the only other occasion they met.

"I signed my contract in August 1977 and, two days later, I was substitute in the Cup Winners' Cup against Young Boys and we won 1-0," the 64-year-old told the Young Boys website.

"Two weeks later, I was back in the starting line-up and scored in Bern as we qualified for the next round after a 2-2 draw."

Smith keeps a close eye on Swiss football and thinks Steven Gerrard's side face "a very difficult task" this time and that "one point would be good for Rangers".

Image source, SNS

Rangers have received an international award for the "outstanding education and social welfare" work of the club's charity foundation.

The Social Responsibility of a Football Club, Role Model Award was made at the Football Is More International CSR Conference in Switzerland.

Previous winners include Chelsea, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.

Read more here

Some might have raised an eyebrow at Ranger' decision not to train on the pitch at Stade de Suisse ahead of the game.

They did have a walk around on their arrival from Scotland last night, but manager Steven Gerrard said "we get enough games" on such surfaces in the Scottish Premiership.

Young Boys head coach Gerardo Seoane would not be drawn on whether he was surprised at Rangers' decision.

However, he added: "Of course it's usually an advantage to play at home and Rangers are not that accustomed to play on the artificial turf and for us it is certainly not a disadvantage."

Image source, SNS

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard hinted yesterday at a more cautious approach in Switzerland than his side adopted at home to Feyenoord and the inclusion of Glen Kamara in place of Greg Stewart bears that out.

"A clean sheet and a win against a good team was the perfect start for us, but it's important we try to build on all that hard work," he says.

"We are coming here to try to win the game and do everything we can to do that, but it is important that we take something away from this fixture and try to build on the three points we started with."

Image source, SNS

With ill head coach Dan Petrescu missing, assistant Alin Minteuan suggested that their side arrive full of confidence after a fine opening win in the group.

"We had a lot of confidence in ourselves before the game against Lazio, but now we are in first position and even more confident in our strength," he says.

"Last time, we really had to win to qualify. That's why we had to attack, but this will be a different game and it is very important not to lose, so we will have our own strategy."

Image source, SNS

Talking of Celtic Par, there is a question mark over whether Cluj coach Dan Petrescu will be in his side's dugout after the 51-year-old was taken unwell last night.

Assistant Alin Minteuan took the former Chelsea full-back's place at his club's media conference with Petrescu ill on their arrival at their Glasgow city centre hotel but hopes his boss will be back in charge tonight.

Image source, SNS

Coverage of tonight's game is about to start on BBC Radio Scotland 810MW.

Presented by Richard Gordon, former Rangers winger Neil McCann provides expert analysis as Paul Mitchell commentates on the match in Bern.

Former Scotland striker James McFadden gives his thoughts from Celtic Park, with Liam McLeod describing the action.

Image source, SNS

Young Boys make one change from the side that overcame Sion 3-2 at the weekend, but it's a rather big deal as striker Guillaume Hoarau is forced out through injury.

The forward has scored 13 goals in 13 starts in the Europa League, netting at least once in each of his last three starts.

So Rangers fans will be happy to see him missing tonight's clash. In his place comes 25-year-old striker Roger Assale, who has two goals in nine games this season.

The Swiss side were also sweating over the fitness of midfielder Moumi Ngamaleu prior to tonight's clash. However, the 26-year-old has been deemed fit enough for a spot on the bench.

Image source, Getty Images

There was overnight speculation about a possible surprise return for Rangers' Joe Aribo.

He was expected to be missing for a couple of weeks after a challenge by Livingston's Rickie Lamie left the midfielder requiring 20 stitches and he was not involved in Saturday's win over Aberdeen.

But the new Nigeria cap trained with a rugby head guard before the squad left for Switzerland, raising hopes he could play in Switzerland.

However, Aribo is not even on the bench.

Image source, SNS

Alfredo Morelos is in his usual place up front for Rangers. Odsonne Edouard is likely to do likewise for Celtic later.

Both have proven effective for their sides in Europe so far this season.

But who is the best striker? Click thumbs up for Morelos, thumbs down for Edouard.

Image source, SNS

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard makes two changes from the side that thumped Aberdeen 5-0 on Saturday.

Sweden centre-half Filip Helander replaces Nikola Katic, with Glen Kamara coming into midfield in place of the more attack-minded Greg Stewart.

Image source, SNS

Image source, bb

Young Boys: Von Ballmoos, Sorensen, Zesiger, Gaudino, Fassnacht, Assale, Nsame, Aebischer, Garcia, Janko, Lustenberger.

Substitutes: Wolfli, Petignat, Moumi Ngamaleu, Burgy, Mambimbi, Lotomba, Schupbach

Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Barisic, Jack, Davis, Kamara, Arfield, Ojo, Morelos.

Substitutes: Foderingham, Katic, Halliday, Barker, King, Stewart, Defoe.

Image source, BBC Sport

As is customary with the Europa League group stage, the kick-offs are staggered.

Rangers' game in Bern is first up, with kick-off at 17:55.

Celtic's match at home to Cluj follows at 20:00.

Image source, SNS

The Europa League group stage opened in positive fashion for Scotland's two representatives. Can they build on it tonight?

Rangers defeated Feyenoord 1-0 at home in Group G and are in Bern to face Swiss champions Young Boys.

Having left France with a creditable point away to Rennes in Group E, Celtic host Cluj - the Romanian champions who knocked them out of Champions League qualifying a few weeks ago.

Stay with us for the build-up, live commentary and post-match reaction on BBC Radio Scotland and the BBC Sport website.

Image source, SNS