So Rangers face Victoria Plzen in the third round of qualifying for the Champions League, having surprisingly negotiated Panathinaikos.
Fans could be forgiven for modest hopes such have been the dire displays recently. Both in Greece and Motherwell, and given Plzen’s status, it’s understandable.
Plzen may have finished a distance behind Czechia’s strongest side Slavia Praha last season, but they also finished miles ahead of city rivals Prague, who caused Rangers a few problems in recent times.
It’s a tough ask for a Rangers with a 33% win rate in all competitions and whose defence is weak.
They have a modest squad value and spent pennies in the window but Miroslav Koubek has coached them for two years now. He is fairly settled in his identity. This is something Rangers definitely lack nowadays.
Rangers aren’t facing a goliath of European football, but a hardy team that is well organised. They’re better these days than all of Czechia bar one side.
It’s also high stakes – it’s a guaranteed £3.5M payday for the winners of this one, and even more beyond.
So no doubt Plzen will be very much seeking to progress.
This journey into the league phase is worth a base minimum of £37M for Rangers, defeat to Plzen doesn’t bear thinking about.
But they will be far from pushovers.
If we can’t beat Motherwell, how will we handle Czechia’s second-best team.
We shall find out very soon as Rangers face Victoria Plzen.