Some Rangers Fans Think Panathinaikos Are There For The Taking | OneFootball

Rangers today drew Greek giants Panathinaikos in a second round qualifying of the Champions League. Most Rangers fans were a bit reluctant to discover who their side would face, given that none of the three options we would be potentially up against were especially easy. Servette, Panathinaikos, and of course Brann.

None of those options were particularly walkovers, and especially at this level. Now, there are a few fans who suggest that the Greek side that we have indeed been drawn against are a potentially negotiable opponent. The problem here is the reasoning that they have offered is to do with the fact that they finished 18 points behind rivals Olympiacos in the domestic league last season, when Rangers ourselves managed to get a draw in Greece against the champions of that country.

And if we’re now facing up against the side in second place by quite a distance, then surely that’s a walkover for us. Ibrox noise would unfortunately disagree a little bit with this. Our reason is very simple. It has been long said that facing Barnet in the Champions League final is far, far harder than facing Real Madrid in the Europa League conference. The simple point here is difficulty and the competition.

There is an intensity in the Champions League that we will not find in either the Europa or the Conference League. And Panathinaikos, as a qualifier, will know exactly the level of difficulty and intensity of this tournament and will show up in a way that perhaps sides in the Europa League do not do.

Europa League is a decent tournament, but the only true outcome of any value of it is actually winning it. The real money, of course, is in the Champions League and sides are throwing everything at the Champions League to try to get through to the group stage proper. This further reinforces itself when we look at Ukrainian giants Dynamo Kiev. We faced them last season and got absolutely tanked.

They finished champions in their league and are a very, very solid side. They did, however, get absolutely gubbed in the group stage proper, showing the difficulty in the qualifiers is probably equal or higher even to the Europa League proper. Maybe even the knockout stages of Europe’s second competition. So the reality is in the Champions League qualifiers, Rangers are up against it no matter who we would have faced.

But we have to say we really did get a tough one here in Greece.