Rangers now have a real chance to make the Champions League | OneFootball

Was Tuesday night’s Kyiv draw a game-changer for Rangers and Philippe Clement?

It’s hard to jump to that conclusion after just 90 minutes, but the gulf between Rangers’ effort, desire and overall quality in Poland compared with Edinburgh was tangible and gave a teasing glimpse into what this squad could aspire to if it commits itself.

The big tease is this 90 minutes shows that on a European match night in the Champions League, Rangers CAN mix it with some of the weaker teams in such a competition.

As we have said many times, the third round onwards of qualification in the UCL is about the same level, probably a bit higher, than the last 16 of the Europa League – the gulf between both tournaments is a chasm.

But Rangers went to Poland, a venue where the hosts had destroyed the very best of Serbia and quite frankly matched them on the night.

While Kyiv were good value for their lead at the time, they weren’t that far ahead of Rangers at all, and the visitors worked hard on movement, tracking, and grafting.

While there were passengers like Diomande, Lawrence and Wright, the majority of the team put in shifts and showed that if Clement can get it right for the return leg, and get a gigantic win, there’s a chance, just a chance, we can do it again in the next round, albeit that will be a leap again.

But Rangers have given themselves a chance at the £65M jackpot from the Champions League – a jackpot based on Rangers alone and how strong we have been in Europe the past 5 years, and the new competition format.

Rangers must get there, the money is too big to give up, and this result v the best Ukraine is a welcome change to recent form and losses.

Sure, we still haven’t won a single match of football since the middle of May, which is literally preposterous in August, but this draw felt close to a win.

Dessers’ last-ditch equaliser was colossal, and has given Rangers a real chance to get to the playoffs, which at least guarantees £5M for getting there and losing, and the £5M for dropping into the Europa League from there – we’re sure that parachute is still there.

The point is we didn’t even believe we’d be in contention, but here we are, contending.

Can we get to the playoffs at the very least?

It is now possible, yes.