Rangers, Copenhagen advance to Champions League group stage

25.08.2022 - 01:55 tsn.ca

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands (AP) — Rangers returned to the Champions League group stage following a 12-year absence and a humiliating financial crisis, advancing through the playoff round Wednesday by winning 1-0 at PSV Eindhoven.

Rangers will take its place in Thursday's group-stage draw thanks to Croatia forward Antonio Čolak’s 60th-minute goal in the second leg to seal a 3-2 win on aggregate score.

A decade ago, Rangers was liquidated as a club and restarted in the fourth tier of Scottish football. Now it joins city rival Celtic, which got direct entry as the Scottish league winner, in the lucrative Champions League that is worth tens of millions of euros (dollars) to each.

Copenhagen also advanced Wednesday by holding Turkish champion Trabzonspor to a 0-0 draw after winning the home leg 2-1 last week.

Football Rangers group stage Antonio Colak Croatia Netherlands Scotland Norway Turkey Copenhagen Zagreb

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Antonio Colak tapped in the winner for the Glasgow side on the hour after Milik Tillam robbed PSV defender Andre Ramalho and slipped the ball across the box to the Croatian forward who made no mistake. Rangers reached the Europa League final last season, losing to Eintracht Frankfurt, and their return to the group stage of the Champions League completes an impressive turn-around for the Scottish club. After being hit by financial troubles and going into liquidation, Rangers had to start again in the fourth tier of Scottish football in 2012. "It's difficult to describe in words, it was a great team performance. It's an amazing journey we'll have this year and I'm so proud of all of these guys," said Colak. "I was in tears on the pitch, it was just a moment of joy. As a kid I always wanted to compete at this level and to be here is amazing," he added.