Rangers have had a strong start to the Europa League and are in good place to at least reach the play-off round under Philippe Clement
The manager received the response he was looking for from his squad as they recovered from their defeat to Kilmarnock; the fact that Ibrox was not empty at 90 minutes demonstrates that fans have not completely lost trust yet.
There are still five games remaining in the newly restructured Europa League league phase, but how are the other clubs on Rangers’ fixture schedule faring?
How are Rangers’ next Europa League opponents performing?
To make things easier for comparison, Olympiacos lost 2-0 to Lyon and beat Malmo 1-0 away from home, with their most recent result being a 1-0 win over Braga, and they are one position below Rangers in 12th place on the table.
An distant excursion to meet Nice is Rangers’ sixth game, and despite their Ligue 1 status, they are currently ranked 32nd out of 36 clubs.
Although the loss to Ferencvaros was unexpected, they have two tough games against Lazio and Real Sociedad on their record, so this doesn’t fully tell the picture.
The following two games are the hardest on paper, so Rangers, despite their travels, will be hoping to win these two games.
The remaining games and their times are as follows:
Matchday 1: Malmo vs. Rangers, September 26
Matchday 2: Rangers vs. Lyon on October 3
Matchday 3: Rangers vs. FCSB, October 24
Matchday 4: Olympiacos vs. Rangers, November 7
Matchday 5: Nice vs. Rangers, November 28
Matchday 6: Rangers vs. Tottenham Hotspur, December 12
Matchday 7: Manchester United vs. Rangers, January 23
Matchday 8: Rangers vs. Union Saint-Gilloise, January 30
There are Battles of Britain during the Rangers Europa League league phase.
If Spurs fell from their impressive second place between now and December, it would be shocking. Spurs visit Ibrox in December.
For obvious reasons, Ange Postecoglu will not likely take it easy when he returns to Glasgow, despite the fact that he has been rotating his team.
It will be intriguing to travel to Old Trafford and play a team who appears to be just as inconsistent as Rangers, assuming they can continue to play the way they did against FCSB.
They now lie in 21st place on goal differential, barely outside the play-off spots, after three draws.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea for Union Saint Gilloise to visit Ibrox if Rangers need to win on matchday eight.
By January, they may have nothing left to play for, since they are currently ranked 29th in the league.
With some of their opponents suffering and Rangers having two of their greatest performances of the season in the Europa League, Thursday nights may once again offer some relief from domestic agony.
Leave a Reply