Rangers confirm ‘sadly not feasible’ blow to fans for Europa League clash with Benfica
There will be no official club flight to the away leg of the Europa League tie with Benfica, the Rangers Supporter Liaison Office has confirmed.
The Light Blues face the Portuguese giants at the Estadio de Luz on 7 March but the club revealed via Twitter on 26 February that after discussions with their travel partner it would be too expensive for fans to travel with them thanks to a lack of “aircraft availability”.
The club have already been disappointed by the news that the home leg at Ibrox the following week had seen the kick off time moved to the 5.45pm slot [BBC Sport, 23 February].
Ranger SLO wrote: “Following dialogue with our travel partner, it has been confirmed that an official club flight for Benfica away is sadly not feasible.
“This is due to aircraft availability and what would be a subsequently unreasonable cost implication for supporters.”
No official Rangers supporter flight to Portugal for Benfica first leg
Light Blues supporters will find their way to Lisbon as they always do but this development will make it harder for some, and potentially impossible for others.
With the game less than a fortnight away it is going to be a disappointment to those who would have expected to be on an official club flight, and doesn’t leave a lot of time for alternative arrangements to be made.
Philippe Clement’s side got a bye through the play-off round of the competition after the Belgian’s revival of the club saw Rangers top the group with an excellent 3-2 away win against Real Betis on 14 December.
They have been handed a tough assignment in the knock-out stages against the side currently top of the Portuguese league table.
So if the manager has designs on emulating Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s memorable run to the final two seasons ago he will need to get his side to respond to the challenge in a similar way to how they tackled the visit of in-form Hearts at the weekend, where any threat was steamrolled on the way to a 5-0 win.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton has issued a Gers claim with Brendan Rodgers “under the pump” amid a new controversy.
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