Rangers might’ve made the Europa League Group Stages after overcoming Alashkert, but Swedish Champions Malmo gave the club a taste of what might’ve been in the Champions League.
Rangers spurned a huge opportunity to progress to the Playoff round of Europe’s elite tournament by falling to a 2-1 Ibrox defeat to the 10-men of Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side.
From there, Malmo went on to dump Bulgarian champions Ludogorets 3-2 on aggregate and earn a spot at European football’s top table.
With this comes a remarkable £30m+ cash prize but if that wasn’t bad enough, going by Malmo’s draw Rangers have missed out on some pretty special ties.
The Swedes have drawn Champions League winners Chelsea, Italian giants Juventus, and Russian outfit Zenit St Petersburg.
This means Rangers – who have a long-held association with Chelsea – miss out on a tantalising Battle of Britain clash.
Rangers fans might also have been able to get a glimpse of legendary £100m superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, depending on whether or not he remains at Juventus.
The player has been extensively linked with a move to Man City [Guardian].
Zenit St Peterburg too would’ve offered the Gers the chance to exorcise the demons of the 2008 UEFA Cup Final where the Russians dumped the Ibrox side.
Instead, Rangers fans will have to settle for the Europa League but there remain some seriously interesting ties in Europe’s second-tier competition.
The draw for the Europa League is set to take place at 11am this morning (27/08) and Gers fans will eagerly await the outcome ahead of their fourth straight group stage campaign.
Rangers managed to make the group stages following a 1-0 aggregate win over Armenian side Alashkert but a drab second leg was livened up by a strange broadcaster malfunction.
