It’s sure to be a terrifically exciting group for the Light Blues with trips to Portugal, Switzerland and the Netherlands to come between now and Christmas, and it’s three clubs whom Gers have faced previously in European competition…
FC Porto
Champions League winners in 2004, they reached the quarter-finals of the main competition last year, losing only to eventual winners Liverpool. They finished second in last season’s Portuguese League, but missed out on qualifying for the Champions League this season, losing to Russian side Krasnodar in the third qualifying round.
Gers last faced Porto in the 2005-06 Champions League Group Stage, beating them 3-2 on an uproarious Ibrox night before earning a 1-1 draw away en-route to qualifying for the Last 16 of the competition.
BSC Young Boys Bern
Young Boys are the defending Swiss champions, claiming their 13th title by a mammoth 20 points ahead of FC Basel. They too were unfortunate in their Champions League qualifying, being defeated in the play-off by Red Star Belgrade on away goals.
Gers have faced the Swiss side once before, that being the 1977/78 European Cup preliminary round. A 1-0 home-leg win for Rangers with John Greig netting the only goal was followed by a 2-2 away draw, with Derek Johnstone and Gordon Smith on the scoresheet.
Feyenoord Rotterdam
Feyenoord, having been Eredivisie Champions in 2017 under former Rangers player Giovanni van Bronckhorst, finished third last season behind Ajax and PSV Eindhoven.
European Champions in 1970, they have also won this competition in 1974 and 2002. En-route to their last trophy win in Europe, they defeated Alex McLeish’s Rangers 4-3 on aggregate in the Last 16 of the competition. A 1-1 draw in Glasgow was followed by a harsh 3-2 defeat away in Rotterdam, where Gers missed a hat-full of chances late-on against the 10-man Dutch side.
Full fixture information will follow shortly.