Rangers fly the flag amid Celtic ‘serious embarrassment’ after what happened – Michael Gannon
Michael Gannon believes Rangers “have been flying the flag” for Scottish football in European competition amid Celtic’s shortcomings in that department.
Philippe Clement’s side are in with a chance of winning a treble this season. The Gers are top of the Scottish Premiership, in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup and still in the UEFA Europa League.
After a 2-2 draw in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie with Benfica in Portugal (7 March), Clement and his players will be confident of getting the job done at Ibrox, and Gannon believes they are the Glasgow giant who continue to put Scottish football on the map.
Writing in the Sunday Mail (page 56, 10 March) Gannon said, “Across the city, Celtic had a free run at the Champions League for a decade but did the square root of naff all with it.
“Six group stage appearances in 14 years and no knockout wins since Joe Biden was a nipper is a serious embarrassment. Meanwhile, Rangers have been flying the flag even after their detour down the leagues. If anything, Gers have not had the credit they deserve for the Euro runs of recent years.
“Coming through all the qualifiers and getting to the Europa League Final in 2022 – and within a penalty of winning the thing – is one of the greatest achievements in Scottish football history.”
Could Rangers bring the UEFA Europa League back to Ibrox this season?
While Gannon was full of praise for the Gers’ journey to the Europa League Final in 2022, and while many supporters will look back on that journey with plenty of fond memories, there will understandably be a sense of disappointment that they came so close to lifting the trophy but failed.
Rangers could still win up to four trophies this season, which would have been beyond Clement’s wildest imagination for his debut season in Scotland. However, winning the Europa League would arguably be the most difficult trophy of the four to attain.
With teams such as Liverpool, Bayer Leverkusen and Roma still left in the competition, not to mention the task of still getting past Benfica next Thursday (14 March), Clement’s players will need to be at 100 per cent to have any chance of going one better than 2022.
However, if they could outlast all those teams, it would certainly go down as one of the greatest moments in Rangers history, and Clement would instantly seal legend status in Glasgow.
In other Rangers news, Gary Keown is full of praise for one underappreciated Ibrox ace.
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