Rangers suffer a Europa League seedings nightmare
Late Bursaspor goal changes things dramatically
Six points saw Rangers comfortably into the Europa League knock-out stages but things could have looked a lot brighter for Rangers. The seedings for the last 32 of the Europa League have some strong teams in the top section of the seedings which means it is in a club’s best interests to get in amongst them.
It was all going to plan when Kenny Miller ended his Champions League drought (perhaps playing against green and white hoops made life easier for him) and for the first half, Rangers looked extremely at ease with their surroundings. Turkey is certainly not the footballing hell that it was deemed to be in the 1990s. The second half saw Rangers drop deeper and deeper and the Turks stepped up in an attempt to grab their first CL point of the campaign.
The equalising goal in Turkey was the 100th that Rangers have shipped in the Champions League group stages, not the milestone that Smith was hoping to see on his final match in the Champions League. It is not all bad news for the Rangers fans though as they will be cheered by the telegram they receive from the Queen for this landmark.
So, a 1-1 draw in Turkey, not a bad result but Rangers fans will definitely consider it two points dropped and an opportunity missed.
A late equaliser by Lyon in their match against Hapoel Tel-Aviv ensured that Rangers finished above the third-placed team in Group B but the remaining scorelines leaves the Gers hoping for results in their favour on Wednesday night.
FC Twente finished on 6 points, the same tally as Rangers but with a negative 2 goal difference compared to the Ibrox sides negative 3 goal difference. Rubin Kazan also finished on six points with a negative goal difference of 2 so these two sides should be ranked higher than Rangers.
With Group H set to feature a third placed team with a minimum of 9 points, any other team finishing above Rangers will see them landing in the bottom half of the last 32 Euro seedings.
There is still a possibility of Rangers finishing in the top half of Europa League qualifiers but it is out-with the clubs control. Wednesday night offers Rangers fans the perfect excuse to spend time in the pub or in front of the TV screen.
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Scaremongering again, usual anti-Rangers bile from We Know Celtic.
tut tut
Dublin here we come!
Not at all Mr Knox.
Rangers are well equipped to play in the two-legged knock-out rounds but with some of the teams they have to face, even you’d have to admit they’d be happier being in the upper pot.
Still, long way to go until then and anything can happen but Rangers had the opportunity to seal a potentially easier tie tonight.
Nice paranoia from you though – its becoming epidemic in Scotland of late…maybe it’s because of the snow.
To be honest I couldn’t care less about the seeding element of last nights draw. The main disappointment was not getting more co-efficient points for the Country, god knows we could be doing with it. Next season see’s the top two having to play qualifiers,albeit the Champions only face one and will probably be seeded, the year after we will only have the Champions getting the chance to qualify again. If results keep going the way they are, then there will only be one team with the chance to qualify and they WONT be seeded. It’s a grim picture.
The Europa League is now a luxury for Rangers, I hope we get Liverpool or Man City and have another battle of Britain.
As ever the league is the single most important competition we will play in, that said should we go to Dublin we will follow on!!
NB – If that happens Rangers will probably have 6 ganes in 5 days as a result of Celtics, yet to be planned, Korean tour!
Aaah Quagmire, the paranoia has really kicked in now!
It looks as though Walter Smith was in the media talking about his fear of a fixture pile-up which could harm his team. This the same Walter who a few weeks ago was begging for assistance for team and time off?
Haha, classic Walter…
its coming home