Rangers face daunting start in the Champions League | OneFootball

For those who aren’t 100% clear, Rangers’ confirmed opponents in the third round of the Champions League qualifiers are as follows:

Fenerbahçe, Union Saint-Gilloise, Dynamo Kyiv and FC Twente Enschede.

So that’s Turkey’s marginally second-best side now managed by Jose Mourinho, Belgium’s marginally second-best side who missed out on the title by one point, Ukraine’s marginally second-best side who missed out on the title by two points, and Holland’s third-best side who did finish a long way off third.

In simple terms, more or less the best sides in Turkey, Ukraine and Belgium, and close to it in Holland.

Anyone thinking Rangers have an easy ride, and admittedly we don’t think anyone we’ve noticed really does, would have to think again on looking at this lot.

Fenerbahçe are reinvigorated under Mourinho, and will have major ambitions of winning the Turkish title under him, while USG are a major powerhouse in Belgium, having returned to glory the past 3 years, and of course Kyiv are a colossi in Ukraine, regularly competing with Shakhtar.

That Twente could only finish ‘third’ in Holland behind Feyenoord and PSV but still ahead of AZ and Ajax gives some idea of how strong they are.

The only league that isn’t ‘stronger’ than Scotland of those we face is Ukraine, and of course that nation has certainly had its troubles to seek away from the football pitch in recent years.

But we still expect Kyiv to be a hell of a tough opponent if we’re drawn with them.

The point?

No matter who you face in the Champions League, or at what point, it’s tough – it’s a completely different kettle of fish to the Europa League, which is a walk in the park by comparison.

And Rangers will have to throw everything into the third round if there’s to be any chance of getting to the playoff round, never mind getting to the group stage.

At the moment, we aren’t reassured we have the squad to manage that yet.

But tell us something we don’t know, right?