Rangers v Ludogorets just took on MASSIVE significance | OneFootball

Danny Rohl is suddenly under massive pressure, along with Rangers as a whole, thanks to European results recently amid Rangers Champions League.

As we know Rangers host Bulgarian giants Ludogorets at Ibrox in what is essentially a Europa League dead rubber for Rohl’s side.

The match is meaningless for Europa League progression, but on account of results in the Champions League on Wednesday, Rangers’ push for Champions League football next season took a major turn.

Coefficient

The short version is thanks to Rangers’ 3 coefficent points in Europe this season (a truly abysmal return) Olympiakos have overtaken Rangers in automatic UCL group entry for coefficient points after beating Bayer Leverkusen.

This puts Rangers on the back foot and requires wins in the Europa League to restore parity.

It’s essentially a race between Rangers and Olympiakos to secure that final UCL spot. Rangers must win both UEL fixtures remaining, and the Premiership, to guarantee that spot.

Failure

Olympiakos only need to not lose to Ajax and for Rangers to fail to get all 4 coefficient points.

The Greeks are favourites, with Rangers’ torrential Europa League run under Danny Rohl well-documented.

The chance of Rangers winning either of their last two UEL matches are already slim, especially given Ludogorets are fighting for a qualification spot of their own in the UEL.

But Rohl has to win both AND win the SPL title this summer to get that auto spot.

It’s quite the contest.

Busted flush

While Europe this season was a busted flush for Rangers, next season is anyone’s guess.

Winning the SPL just took on giant significance even more so, because while the 49ers are spending much more aggressively, Rangers don’t want to fall foul of FFP and legislation. So making the lucrative Champions League league phase remains a massive, massive goal.

The doors it opens just being there are astonishing (it’s still a gigantic £60M kitty), and it’s something Rangers must strive for.

The 49ers are not investing into the hundreds of millions of UK pounds just to settle for the Europa League and second place domestically.

But Rohl has to do better.

Most teams in the bottom half of the Europa League are utter mediocrity, but they are a giant step up from Annan and Aberdeen.

Rohl needs to win tonight or that auto spot is gone and it’s qualifiers yet again for Rangers this summer.

And Rangers Champions League hopes could really do without those things yet again!