Rangers love affair with the Europa League continued against Union Saint Gilloise when qualification for the last 16 was secured.
Philippe Clement only had an outside chance before kick-off at Ibrox, however, his patchwork squad managed to get the job done.
Ahead of the Europa League draw, Rangers knew who their four potential opponents would be, now they know who they might face all the way to the final.
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Rangers learn fate with last 16 Europa League draw
The good news, is that Man Utd, Eintracht Frankfurt, Lyon and Tottenham Hotspur will all be avoided until, at least, the semi-final stage, as will Ajax and Real Sociedad having been drawn in the top half of the knockouts.
For the quarter-finals, Lazio, Olympiakos and Athletic Club were the teams on Rangers half and have been joined by Porto who will play Roma and Ferencvaros, who will play Viktoria Plzen in the play-offs in the top half of the draw.
With an initial list of four teams; Anderlecht, Twente, Fenerbahce and Bodo/Glimt, these teams have now been paired up with Fenerbache vs Anderlecht in the silver side of the draw and Twente vs Bodo/Glimt in the orange side of the draw.
What happens next?
The draw for the last 16 will take place on Friday 21st February when Rangers will discover if they are in the silver or orange side of the draw.
What they do know, is their potential opponents if they make it past one of the four teams mentioned above in the play-off rounds.
Should Rangers progress, they would play Lazio, Athletic Club, Porto and Roma if drawn on the orange side and Ferencvaros, Viktoria Plzen, Lazio or Athletic club, if drawn on the silver side in the quarter-finals.
The silver side of the draw currently looks more appealing given Roma and Porto’s on the orange half.
When will Rangers next play in the Europa League?
Rangers will be away for the first leg of the last 16 round on Thursday 6th March and at Ibrox on Thursday 13th March when the winners progress to the quarter-finals.
Given the fixtures in the league phase and how the games went against Man Utd and Spurs, Clement will have every confidence that he can take his team deep into the competition.
Over two legs, with players like Danilo and Ianis Hagi available and an improved injury list, Rangers will be a lot stronger than recent teams that have been sent out. Three players can be added to the Europa League squad and three taken out.
Factor in what can happen at Ibrox in front of 50,000 fans and anything is possible.
Not that Clement won’t be taking it anything other than one game at a time.
