Analysis | Andy Brassell's bitesize European preview | Rangers
Tue 10 December 2024, 15:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
One of the voices of European football on talkSPORT and Sky Sports, well known for The Football Ramble podcast and a writer for The Guardian - and a regular contributor here at Spurs for almost 10 years - Andy Brassell gives us a short, sharp view of our opposition ahead of every UEFA Europa League match this season.
Next up, Scottish giants Rangers - finalists in the competition in 2022, where they lost to Eintracht Frankfurt - in a key match in the league phase in MD6, with the Glasgow side currently a place above us in the table in eighth on goal difference - remembering that the top eight progress straight through to the knockout stage.
Rangers (Scotland)
Manager - Philippe Clement
Domestic form - 3rd in the SPL, five unbeaten, but 11 points behind Celtic; Scottish Cup finalists
Europa League form - 3 wins, a draw and defeat in 5 matches to sit 8th in the league phase
Europa League results - 2-0 vs Malmo (MD1), 1-4 vs Lyon (MD2), 4-0 V FCSB (MD3), 1-1 v Olympiacos (MD4), 4-1 v Nice (MD5)
Andy Brassell...
"It’s a really interesting one. Philippe Clement, if you feel he’ll be successful with Rangers, it might just come on the European stage. I think he’s a good coach, but he’s gone into Ibrox at the same time as Brendan Rodgers has gone back to Celtic, which is a bit unfortunate for him. The thing with Rangers, they’ve been great in the Europa League for about five years now. They’ve had some massive results as well, punched above their weight in European terms. Maybe that’s hard for people to absorb, but on the budget they’ve got, they’ve got far better results in Europe than they should have been able to achieve. They started hitting harder in Europe under Steven Gerrard and they’ve managed to continue that through successive coaches, including reaching the final under Giovanni van Bronckhorst in 2022, where they lost on penalties to Eintracht Frankfurt. The win at Nice on the last matchday (MD5) was outstanding and a worthy addition to some great results on the road in Europe in recent years, including the Champions League victory at PSV or last season’s win at Betis in this competition, and when you consider the financial situation in Scottish football, those results really are amazing."
