So it’s now confirmed that Rangers will face Ukrainian colossus Dynamo Kyiv in the third qualifying round of the Champions League.
They obliterated Partizan in the second round 9-2, a strong Partizan who finished (an admittedly distant) second in the Serbian SuperLiga behind regular champions Crvena zvezda or ‘Red Star’ as most of us know them.
Kyiv are a settled team – they’ve made very few changes this window and will obviously look to push Red Star for the title better this season – they are also regular contenders in the Champions League.
Rangers will face a much tougher third round this time around than they did v either Servette last year, or Union Saint Gilloise in 22.
Servette were abysmal and we got kind of lucky, and USG had only just resurfaced as a force in Belgium. Kyiv are a firmly established and extremely experienced team, and the only ‘advantage’ Rangers will get is the Ukrainian home leg will be held in Poland, for obvious reasons.
In terms of our squad, there’s a bit of uncertainty over whether we’d be able to register potential new signing Robin Propper in time, based on the homegrown players rule: EDIT, HE MADE IT!
If he is confirmed today (HE WAS), we can. If not, we may miss out on him v Kyiv (WE WON’T).
As for Champions League, Ibrox Noise recommendation is that it’s just far too high a level for us.
This Rangers is actually a lot weaker than the atrocious squad that did make it to the group stage in 2023, and while Clement has managed many times in the Champions League unfortunately it was always via automatic qualification, and in 19 group matches he only won 3.
Rangers, if by a miracle of getting past Kyiv and the playoff round, would be likely facing the same humiliation we did two years ago.
But we still must get there. ~£60M is the prize on offer for getting to the group, that’s club-changing money thanks to the new format, and Rangers have to secure it.
We blew the league and the guaranteed UCL pot, but if we can scrape a miracle and get there, any single point at that level would be a bonus.
Because we’d have a very big chunk of change as consolation – something to use for both the rest of the transfer window and in January.
So that is the challenge awaiting Clement – he’s never had to qualify for this tournament before, and he’s only won 3 group matches of 19, and he has to do it now with a very, very poor Rangers squad.
Him getting this club in its current condition to the group stage proper might qualify as one of the biggest escape acts ever.
Especially including overcoming a side who dispatched Partizan that easily 9-2.