AFTER spending a season facing Europe in the organisational phase of the Champions League, Rangers will return to the Europa League this year.
The Light Blues succumbed to a 5-1 defeat in the Champions League play-off match against PSV after being eliminated by the Dutch giants 7-3 aggregate.
Chief Michael Beale lamented his team’s premature exit from the competition, but now the focus is on a tournament that has treated the club for more than 15 years.
Rangers reached the final in 2007/08 and 2021/22 and extended their streak in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 editions of the competition, reaching the knockout stages after starting in the first and second qualifying rounds.
Ibrox’s team are hoping for similar luck this time around, and the strength of their coefficient allows them to avoid the kind of nightmare draw that would have left enthusiasts fearful of an early exit.
It was thought that the Rangers would almost certainly be in pot two for the organization-wide draw, which will take place at noon on Friday.
But the defeat of Dinamo Zagreb means that Gers will be in the most sensible boat, avoiding the biggest names in the tournament.
Ajax, Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool, Roma, Villareal and West Ham are in the most sensible boat.
Being in Pot Two meant that the Rangers would have moved away from most of the teams that enter this type of lower group but are still established in Europe.
But it is possible that they will now face Sporting Lisbon, Rennes, Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, Real Betis, LASK and Marseille.
From the Pot Deux, a short flight to France to face Rennes can be exciting and, likewise, Gers would have to check their luck against LASK of Austria.
But the Qarabag has just sneaked into pot two and, despite the long flight to Azerbaijan, the celestials have enough quality to defeat them.
Sheriff Tiraspol is the least feared team in pot three. The Moldovan champions stunned Real Madrid in the Champions League a few seasons ago, but have since lost players and were eliminated from the teams last year and then defeated in the first knockout phase of the Conference League.
In the fourth pot, draw between TSC Serbia and Rakow Czestochowa of Poland. They are champions of Poland and have the biggest stadium. Although their current league campaign has not gotten off to a good start, they enjoy European football more than their Serbian rivals, who have also never won the national title.
Most favourable group: RANGERS, Qarabag, Sheriff Tiraspol, TSC.
The second pot is somewhat discouraging for the Rangers.
Olympiacos beat Rangers in pre-season, while there is a rivalry dating back to the 1992 Champions League with Marseille.
Even more disagreements are with Slavia Prague, after Ondrej Kudela’s racist abuse of Glen Kamara in 2021. They were eliminated from the Conference League organizational level last season.
Real Betis is controlled by former Manchester City and Real Madrid manager Manuel Pellegrini and signed former internationals Isco and Hector Bellerin this summer.
While the Light Blues beat Sporting Lisbon in their run to the UEFA Cup final in 2008, the existing squad is filled with Portuguese internationals and also includes England star Marcus Edwards, along with former Liverpool defender Sebastian Coates.
It is difficult to separate the trappings of Slavia and the two green and white groups, but we opted for Sporting, given the last time they failed to qualify for the knockout stages of a European festival in 2017/18, and qualified all once a year since 2014/15.
In pot three, Freiburg, middle of the Bundesliga table, and Molde, the Norwegian team, would tie.
Similarly, Maccabi Haifa would not be a welcome trip, given the long flight to northern Israel and the fact that Scotland’s national team has struggled there.
But Sparta Prague has an equally intense atmosphere that Gers knows well. There is a nasty history between matches due to Kamara’s racism incident against local rival Slavia, and he has been booed by local fans.
Sparta eliminated Dinamo Zagreb, overcoming a 3-1 deficit in the first leg to win 5–4 on aggregate.
Any situation involving Brighton would see Billy Gilmour return to Ibrox for the first time since leaving for Chelsea in 2017.
The worst situation in pot four would be that of one of the Greek teams: AEK Athens or Panathinaikos. The latter has a history with Rangers in Europe, having beaten them at the organisational level of the Champions League in 2003, but the Light Blues were given the biggest of them in their run to the Europa League final (then called the UEFA Cup in 2008).
Panathinaikos is traditionally the top success of the two groups and has won 20 league championships compared to AEK’s 13, however it has not won the name since 2010 and it is AEK who are the current champions and favourites to retain their crown this season. on both sides: Panathinaikos and Olympiacos.
Group in the worst case: RANGERS, Sporting Lisbon, Sparta Prague, AEK Athens.
Hat-trick 1: Ajax, Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool, Rangers, Roma, Villareal, West Ham
Pot 2: LASK, Marseille, Olympiacos, Qarabag, Real Betis, Rennes, Slavia Prague, Sporting Lisbon
Hat-trick 3: Brighton, Freiburg, Maccabi Haifa, Molde, Sheriff Tiraspol, Sparta Prague, Sturm Graz, Union Saint-Gilloise
Hat-trick 4: AEK Athens, Aris Limassol, Hacken, Panathinaikos, Rakow Czestochowa, Servette, Toulouse, TSC
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