There is certainly no shortage of potential talking points as Rangers look ahead to the last-16 of this season’s Europa League.
Friday’s draw confirmed that Anderlecht will face off against Fenerbahce in the tournament’s last-32 – Rangers earned a bye into the next round after beating Union Saint Gilloise in the final matchday of the first phase – while FC Twente go head-to-head with Bodo/Glimt.
As such, Philippe Clement’s team will meet the winner of one of those two ties in March for a place in the quarter-finals.
If Anderlecht are drawn against Rangers, Clement will renew acquaintances with a side he knows well back home in Belgium. The Ibrox boss won the Jupiler League title on three occasions with Anderlecht’s rivals KRC Genk and Club Brugge.
A clash with Fenerbahce, meanwhile, would see the Glasgow giants battle Jose Mourinho for the first time. FC Twente would see a return to his old stomping ground for the club’s former skipper Robin Propper.
Rangers sold Sam Lammers to Twente last summer too following a disappointing spell at Ibrox. As for Bodo/Glimt, it is the man in the dugout who’s name may be the most familiar to the Rangers support.
Rangers eyed Bodo/Glimt manager Kjetil Knutsen before hiring Philippe Clement
Kjetil Knutsen has been linked with the Rangers job in the recent past, of course. At some point between the sacking of Mick Beale and the arrival of Philippe Clement back in 2023.
According to 90Min, Knutsen even ‘expressed an interest’ in taking over at Ibrox. Some 18 months on, one of the most underrated tacticians in European football is still in the Bodo/Glimt hotseat. Having turned down numerous offers from other leagues and other clubs down the years, Knutsen, even if he was tempted by the chance to become the head honcho at Rangers, is proof of what loyalty can bring.
Kjetil Knutsen claimed his fourth Norwegian title last year, in addition to his trio of Eliteserien Coach of the Year awards. To say he put Bodo/Glimt on the map – they were a second division team without a single league title in their history before he arrived in the Arctic Circle seven years ago – would be quite the understatement.
These days, Bodo/Glimt are regulars in European competition.
They famously thrashed Mourinho’s Roma side 6-1 – the heaviest defeat ever suffered by the legendary Portuguese – and also cruised past Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic 5-1 in the Europa Conference League a couple of years back.
“I don’t think he really wants to come to Bodo,” Knutsen quipped when asked about a potential reunion with Mourinho in the competition’s last-16.
“I have no problems meeting Mourinho but it won’t be a happy reunion, to be honest! I guess I’ll have to invite him to dinner.”
- READ MORE: Rangers Europa League Record Since 2017
Rangers’ Union Saint Gilloise victory knocked Bodo/Glimt out of top eight
Presuming Knutsen guides his team past Lammers’ FC Twente outfit, a potential clash with Rangers brings it’s own flashpoints.
In addition to those previous Knutsen links, there is another rather intriguing factor to consider. It was Rangers who snook into the Europa League’s top eight on Thursday at Bodo/Glimt’s expense, after all, thus consigning the Norwegians to what essentially amounts to a play-off round.
A 1-1 draw at Nice knocked them down to ninth, while Rangers edged past USG thanks to goals from Nico Raskin and Vaclav Cerny.
“I think we played a brave away game,” Knutsen sighed, rueing dropped points against a Nice team already consigned to a first-round exit. “The first-half was very good. We were a little too bad in the last third, otherwise we should have led at half-time.
“We continued until we took the lead but then there was a mental switch. We suddenly started doing something different, and at the same time Nice changed up their quality.”
