As Rangers toil for points in the Champions League plenty are casting glances over at Belgian champions Club Brugge as their remarkable campaign continues to turn heads.
The Gers are without a goal let alone a point in their first three Champions League Group A games after defeats to Ajax (4-0), Napoli (0-3) and Liverpool (2-0).
Conversely, the Belgians have impressed in sort of paradoxical form to Rangers, Club Brugge winning their first three games without even conceding a goal.
Spanish giants Atletico Madrid were the latest side to be dispatched by Brugge, the Belgian outfit following up wins over Leverkusen (1-0) and Porto (0-4) with an impressive 2-0 victory.
The result leaves them within touching distance of the Champions League knockout rounds and there is a level of justification for those Rangers fans comparing their success with that at Ibrox.
Both teams play on a similar level – albeit the Belgian footballing authorities appear a little more progressive and intelligent than those in Scotland – and Rangers are, ultimately, a bigger club than Club Brugge.
That’s not to disrespect the Belgian champions, it’s just a fact.
Rangers – alongside the likes of Danish side FC Copenhagen – are also routinely mentioned alongside Club Brugge alongside some of the brightest talents in Europe. The less said about now Brugge winger Andreas Skov Olsen the better.
But where the comparisons miss the point and might be a little harsh in Rangers concerns Club Brugge’s recent experience at this level.
Club Brugge have Champions League experience that Rangers don’t
Including this season’s competition, Club Brugge have qualified for six of the last seven Champions League tournaments. This is the first time they look set to get out of the group.
In 2016/17, the first time they played at this level in 11 years, they were knocked out of a group containing Leicester City, Copenhagen and Porto without gaining a point and only scoring two goals.
That’s a scenario that is beginning to sound awfully familiar to Rangers fans, but the Ibrox side have drawn a tougher group this time out.
After finishing bottom of their group that time, the Belgians went on to qualify for the Europa League in their next three Champions League outings.
Last season’s competition of Man City, RB Leipzig and PSG was quite simply too strong. Read their history in European Football HERE.
This time around the progress has been evident with Club Brugge but as Rangers look for somewhere to vent it’s that word progress that is important.
Rome, or Brugge in this case, wasn’t built in a day and neither it appears will Glasgow and Rangers when it comes to the Champions League.
Meanwhile, Rangers murmurs around a Premiership rival are surely a wind-up given the bad blood between all parties involved.
