A shock result elsewhere has rubbed salt into Rangers’ wound after their Champions League qualifying exit at the hands of Malmö.
The Swedish champions triumphed 4-2 over the Gers on aggregate, backing up a 2-1 victory in Malmö with a 2-1 win at Ibrox, despite trailing 1-0 and being down to ten men by half-time in the second leg.
Steven Gerrard’s side were nowhere near as solid at the back or as free-flowing in attack as they have regularly been on big European nights in recent years and every supporter leaving Ibrox on Tuesday night knew it was a big opportunity missed.
And a shock result in Bulgaria arguably makes Rangers’ failure even more frustrating.
If the Gers had managed to progress, they were set to face either PFC Ludogorets 1945 or Olympiacos over two legs in the play-off round, with the winner of that tie qualifying for the Champions League group stages.
Most assumed that Olympiacos would comfortably defeat Ludogorets.
After all, the Greek champions are 37th in the UEFA club coefficient, a full 21 places higher than the Bulgarian champions.
However, it was actually Ludogorets who prevailed in a thrilling tie.
Valdas Dambrauskas’ side drew 1-1 in Piraeus last week before winning a penalty shootout 4-1 following a 2-2 draw in Razgrad.
Therefore, it’s the Bulgarians who have progressed to the play-off round, a team that on paper looks to be a much easier opponent for Malmö than an Olympiacos side that contains prolific goalscorer Youssef El-Arabi.
Meanwhile, Rangers have reportedly made contact with a Euro club regarding a player Celtic are also said to be interested in.
