For once, Philippe Clement had probably lamented the fact that Rangers didn’t have a mid-week game with the defeat to Queen’s Park being allowed to fester by all and sundry.
With the manager facing a frosty reception the next time someone from the club sticks their head about the parapet, the return of the Europa League can’t come soon enough for someone who has found solace on continental duty.
Clement will have to wait until the 6th of March, if he is still in a job, for Europa League football with the list of four potential opponents for Rangers looking more like three after the play-off results.
How did possible Europa League opponents get on in the play-offs?
There isn’t much between Anderlecht, Bodo/Glimt, Fenerbahce and Twente on paper, with one of the results backing this up.
Sam Lammers stayed on the bench as Twente secured a 2-1 win at home against the Norwegian champions, a respectable result for Bodo/Glimt given that they have yet to start their season.
The winners from this tie would present the more attractive fixture in terms of progress to the quarter-finals.
The Special One at Ibrox?
The other fixture was entirely more one sided though with a star-studded Fenerbahce seeing off Anderlecht 3-0.
Rangers will have watched both games and it doesn’t take a tactical genius to work out that, even in the latter stages of their respective careers, Dusan Tadic, Eden Dzeko and Fred are all hugely experienced operators at the hands of one of the modern era’s finest managers in Jose Mourinho.
A trip to Turkey would also be the hardest given the reputation that Super Lig fans have throughout Europe.
The Special One would look imperious under the Ibrox lights though and a welcome distraction from the domestic season being all but over before Valentine’s Day.
He’s lost none of his sharp wit, taking aim at opposition players, referees and managers alike in the course of a season that hasn’t quite lived up to expectation.
Sounds familiar….
