Rangers do not fear any team in Europe – Chris Sutton
Chris Sutton believes that Rangers have no reason to fear anyone after cementing their place in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
The Gers got the better of PSV Eindhoven in the qualification playoffs where they managed to secure a 3-2 aggregate win.
Sutton, while talking to Scottish Football Extra on BT Sport, said that Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men do not fear any team in Europe.
“I mean it’s huge news for Scottish football [to have two teams in the Champions League group stage],” he said.
“Good news for Scottish football. Of course, there is that chain of thought there is that Rangers shouldn’t be in the Champions League because they are not actually champions but you know they’ve worked so hard in the qualifiers to get there.
“They have so much confidence in European competition and there is no reason for Rangers to fear anybody and I don’t think they do anymore.”
In the same episode, Ally McCoist shared an interesting incident by saying: “I received a call as soon as I touched down in Frankfurt and the person on the other side said that Rangers became the first team from any country who has managed to get two teams into the Champions League.
“Due to Rangers’ sterling work with the coefficient, they’ve managed to get Celtic into the Champions League and they’ve managed to get themselves into the Champions League. What an achievement Chris.”
High confidence
Rangers started the campaign hoping to better what they did in the previous season where they not only won the Scottish Cup but also finished as the runners-up in the UEFA Europa League after losing to Eintracht Frankfurt in the final.
Just a few weeks into this season and it almost feels like the Gers have already superseded many expectations as they first made a grand comeback and knocked Union SG out of the race for a spot in Europe’s elite competition and later also got the better of PSV, despite playing away from home in the second leg.
Rangers are placed in Group A of the Champions League alongside Ajax, Liverpool and Napoli. In all fairness, that is an ideal group to be involved in because there is a spot up for grabs with the Premier League giants almost certain to finish at the top.
Looking at how the team have performed in the early phase of the season, the fans will be hoping that the players will continue producing similar kind of performances in the main round of the Champions League as well.
In other Rangers news, the World’s Strongest Man, Tom Stoltman, issued a rallying cry upon the release of the draw that will inspire many Gers fans.