Rangers’ best & worst case scenarios for Europa League group stage draw

RANGERS managed to navigate their way through a nervy night to reach the Europa League group stages

The Covid-hit Ibrox outfit secured their £20million jackpot after a goalless draw against Alashkert in Armenia.

Arch rivals Celtic managed to hold out for a 3-2 aggregate win in the Netherlands after a barrage of attacking play from AZ Alkmaar, forging their passage to the groups.

However, Aberdeen and St Johnstone’s Europa Conference League adventure came to an abrupt end after play-off defeats to Qarabag and LASK respectively.

So attentions for Scotland’s big two turn to Friday’s Europa League group stage draw – which will be held at 11am in Istanbul, Turkey.

The draw for the competition contains 32 teams.

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They are seeded into four groups of eight in accordance with the club coefficient ranking.

Both Celtic and Rangers go in to Pot Two, with the Hoops the top seeds within that group of teams.

Clubs from the same association couldn’t have been drawn together anyway, so Celtic and Rangers couldn’t have face each other at this stage in any case.

Runners-up also progress to the knockout stage where they will face a third-place Champions League team for a spot in the last 16.

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The team finishing third will drop into the Uefa Conference League knockout phase, where they will play a group runner-up from that competition for a spot in the round of 16.

So, for Rangers, what would be the best and worst case scenarios in tomorrow’s draw?

Well, starting with the teams in pot one, we reckon the best case for the Ibrox side would be to draw Braga, Sparta Prague and Royal Antwerp.

The Portuguese outfit have previous with Rangers, with Steven Gerrard’s side defeating them in the knock-out rounds two seasons ago.

Sparta Prague were drawn in Celtic’s group last season – and defeated them by a whopping 8-2 over the two matches – but the likes of them and Ludogorets have to be viewed as more beatable than the likes of West Ham and Real Sociedad.

And the Light Blues faced off with Royal Antwerp in the last-32 last term – eventually winning 9-5 on aggregate.

JOB DONE Alashkert 0 Rangers 0 (0-1 agg): Gers qualify for Europa League group stages for fourth successive season

There are a number of other sides from each pot that Rangers would fancy themselves against, including Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos from Pot One; Fenerbahce from Pot Two and Brondby or Sturm Graz from Pot Four.

On the flip side, the worst possibly draw would potentially be getting Lyon from Pot One, Real Sociedad from Pot Three and Rapid Vienna from Pot Four.

There are a number of other top teams with high co-efficient rankings from the top pot, with Napoli and Bayer Leverkusen also not the most ideal opponents.

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It could be said that Rangers would fancy a crack at an EPL outfit, so West Ham could be a desired option from Pot Three, particularly from the fans’ point of view.

But there’s no doubting Davie Moyes’ side, along with Marseille, Sociedad and Real Betis will be stern tests should Gerrard’s side meet them.

Galatasaray, Legia Warsaw, Midtjylland and Ferencvaros could also throw up tricky away ties for the Ibrox club.

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