Advantage Valencia but Rangers should have third in the bag
Surely the Turkish side won’t overtake Rangers
Rangers have received a lot of praise for their European performances so far, all of it deserved and although there was some bad luck when Steven Naismith hit the post twice, Rangers were severely lacking tonight. In itself that is no disgrace but it just reiterates the difference between the top team in the SPL and the real class of European football.
Naismith could have opened the scoring on ten minutes but even this came after a spell of Spanish pressure which stretched the five man backline of Rangers. There was a difference in the way that Valencia pressed tonight compared to the way they did at Ibrox or how Manchester United prodded at Old Trafford.
Rangers were going to have every man performing at the top of their game and to have luck on their side to get through the game but that went out of the window before half-time. A Mata corner led to a messy moment in the Ibrox box which allowed Soldado to fire the ball home.
Alan McGregor had already came to Rangers rescue on a couple of occasions but for this goal and the second Valencia strike, also from Saldado, the keeper might have done better. At 2-0 the game was virtually over but yet again, Naismith struck the post to leave Rangers fans thinking what might have been.
Valencia added the finishing touch at the end when Tino Costa managed to use the post to his advantage to make the final score 3-0 to the Spanish side.
With a 5 point lead over Bursaspor and just the six points left to play for, Rangers are virtually guaranteed to make the knock out stages of the Europa League. With Valencia having to travel to Old Trafford, Rangers will not have given up hope of overtaking them and taking second place but it is virtually certain that there will be European football in the New Year for Rangers.
Rangers next game in Europe is at home to Manchester United on the 24th of November and regardless of what happens at Ibrox, if Valencia avoid defeat against Bursaspor, Rangers will be guaranteed third place.
Rangers fans, a bad night but disheartened?
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Disappointing, but not overly surprised to be honest, although 3-0 is a bit harsh. Some of the players look tired and that must be a concern for Walter, McCulloch in particular just didn’t look fit.
No one gave us a hope before the competition started and it shows how far we’ve come that there was some expectation of taking a point from a venue such as the Mestalla. With Man Utd disposing of the Turks, you would assume that the Europa League is now guaranteed, I can’t see them taking anything from Valencia in their next game and that would secure Rangers participation in Europe after Christmas, which will hopefully see the purse strings loosened and some players in to beef up a wafer thin squad. Looking forward to the Man Utd game though, I think with the passion and determination in this squad, there is a realistic hope of a positive result against United, battle of Britain ties are special and this one will be no different.
Huge match on Sunday against St Mirren at the Paisley Methadrome. A place we always seem to struggle, three points are a must to keep up the excellent unbeaten start to the season . Celtic under Lennon will certainly not let the heads go down like Mowbray did, so there will be no gifts before we play I would think.