Rangers fans have been reacting to the Europa League round of 32 draw as the club looks forward to a return to Belgium to play Antwerp.
The Ibrox club came through as Group D winners in the competition’s group stage to secure a place in the seeded pot with Antwerp considered a decent test for Steven Gerrard’s side.
The Belgian outfit reached the last 32 after finishing second in group J, winning four of their matches and losing two, beating group winners Tottenham Hotspur in Belgium.
Rangers beat Belgian outfit Standard Liege home and away to get out of the groups and Antwerp are currently one place above them in the Belgian top tier in 7th place.
Record-breaking Rangers earned a spot in the Europa League knockout rounds courtesy of the highest group stage points total ever collated by a Scottish club (14).
The Gers also had to work their way through Europa League qualifying to make the group stage proper in the first place.
Rangers started their Europa League campaign with a thumping 5-0 victory over Lincoln Red Imps in Gibraltar before they swept aside Dutch club Willem II 4-0 in Holland.
Steven Gerrard’s side would then dump Turkish giants 2-1 at Ibrox to secure a place in the draw where they faced off against Portuguese giants Benfica, Belgians Standard Liege and Polish club Lech Poznan.
Rangers won four of their six group games, defeating both Standard Liege (0-2, 3-2) and Lech Poznan (1-0, 0-2) home and away.
Here’s how the Rangers fans reacted to the Europa League round of 32 draw which pairs Rangers against Antwerp:
https://twitter.com/andrewpc396/status/1338459582121775105
https://twitter.com/DeclanLittle8/status/1338459537276342273
https://twitter.com/skybluecurtains/status/1338459519828058114
https://twitter.com/foe_no/status/1338459478845501440
https://twitter.com/RobertR38796003/status/1338459677395460097
The Ibrox side are well within their rights to be frustrated that they never made it six wins out of six with Rangers twice throwing away two goal leads to draw with Benfica home and away.
The club will now look forward to a trip to Belgium as a result of their group stage success, but on reflection has one of the club’s major achievements from the group stage been underappreciated?
