Russell Martin faces a tricky aggressive debut as Rangers head coach – and on Wednesday he’ll discover out if his new facet face Brann, Panathinaikos or Servette within the second qualifying spherical of the Champions League.
The brand new Ibrox boss, whose facet are seeded for the draw, wants to return by means of three phases if he’s to handle in Europe’s elite membership competitors subsequent season.
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On paper, Panathinaikos would offer the hardest take a look at, the Greek facet being 111th within the European membership rankings, 86 locations behind Rangers, with Servette 139th (one behind Hearts) and Brann 189th.
The Athens facet have by no means misplaced to Scottish opponents over 90 minutes in 4 conferences with Rangers, two with Motherwell and one with Aberdeen, successful 4 of their seven video games.
Nevertheless, it was Rangers who progressed once they final met the Ibrox facet.
The furthest Servette have progressed within the Champions League, in the meantime, is the third qualifying spherical, the place they had been crushed by Rangers after a 1-1 attract Switzerland adopted a 2-1 loss at Ibrox.
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Of their solely different assembly with a Scottish facet, they misplaced by a single objective to Aberdeen within the European Cup second spherical in 1985.
Final season, they had been ousted by Chelsea within the Convention League play-off spherical after beating Braga.
Rangers’ last potential opponents, Brann, have solely as soon as certified for group-stage soccer – again in 2007 within the Uefa Cup.
Final season, the Bergen facet beat Go Forward Eagles within the Convention League second qualifying spherical, then defeated St Mirren 4-2 on combination after a 3-1 win in Norway, earlier than dropping to Astana within the play-off spherical.
Whichever of the three sides they face, Rangers will start their marketing campaign on 22/23 and 29/30 July.
Emerge victorious and they are going to be within the Champions League third qualifying draw on 21 July. Lose and it is going to be the identical stage of the Europa League.
[BBC]