It’s a huge rarity that a European match is a complete dead rubber for Rangers. Usually by this point Rangers are either already through or it’s come down to the last match.
Unfortunately ‘thanks’ to Olympiakos’ colossal win in Holland, they have automatically secured the final 26/27 Champions League spot. Well, almost – they’ve 99% guaranteed it – they just need to win their domestic league to make 100% certain.
Rankings
But they’ve surpassed Rangers in the rankings and while Rangers have one more fixture, sadly, they can no longer match the Greeks, far less overtake again.
So even if Rangers now win the title, the chances of securing that final automatic spot are close to nil.
Even Olympiakos not winning their league and Rangers winning ours AND winning v Porto only marginally increases our chances of getting that spot. Results elsewhere and in other competitions would have to REALLY help Rangers out and those chances of getting every single result we need is more or less zero.
Dead Rubber
So it’s a dead rubber, and Rangers face a Porto side in themselves in red-hot form domestically – only dropped two points all season. Not quite so imperious in the UEL though – they sit just off the automatic qualification spots and will be gunning for Rangers to try to secure themselves the next round.
Rangers have zilch to play for.
And why?
Because both Russell Martin and Danny Rohl have been absolutely terrible in Europe.
Pressure
Rohl only finally got a win under far, far less pressure than any previous European match in living memory, with Rangers already out of the Europa League.
There was the slim chance of that auto UCL spot which meant winning to keep those chances alive, but that was a long shot.
In the Europa League Russell Martin was tragic. Rohl has barely been any better. It’s not really his specialty is it, European football.
As a manager he’d never dealt with it before.
Depth
And he and Martin were out of their depth in the competition proper, even if Martin had those two staggering Champions League qualifying wins.
That along with poor summer recruitment led to a chronically awful start this season, and Europe never really recovered.
We are in a better place domestically than we were, but we’ve lost out on a guaranteed £60M auto UCL spot.
We could still get there via the qualifiers but aside Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s heroic effort in 2022, Rangers haven’t done that since the days of Walter and 9IAR. And back then there were a lot less rounds.
So that’s a long shot.
But it’s a real pity to see Rangers face a meaningless match. Not like us at all.