Danny Murphy has told Rangers that exiting the Champions League for the Europa League could be a BLESSING.
Philippe Clement watched on as his side went down 2-0 at Hampden to Dynamo Kyiv to lose out in their third qualifying round clash 3-1 on aggregate with the visitors advancing to face Salzburg in a 180 minute shootout to reach the big time and land the huge financial windfall that comes with competing against the best players and clubs across Europe. It's not all lost on the European front for Rangers with direct entry to the Europa League proper - a competition that has delivered success and memories over the years.
The topic of the Light Blues' elimination was discussed by Jim White, Danny Murphy and Simon Jordan on talkSPORT with the former Sky Sports favourite - known best for his Deadine Day segments - posing the question to former Liverpool and Fulham star Murphy if Clement and his troops can take solace from heading out of the UCL and heading into Europe's second tier competition.
Speaking live on air, he said: “From a footballing perspective, yes. They are trying to bridge the gap to Celtic. The opposition they’d come up against in the Champions League would be much more intense and it would maybe destroy confidence because they’d probably lose more games. The Europa League is a tournament they can go far in. They've done that before. Got more chance of being successful in that. So from a footballing perspective maybe it could be a blessing.
"I know it will hurt them financially and the fans want to see Champions League football. Playing in the Champions League and trying to compete every week in the Scottish league to over come Celtic would have been difficult for them with the amount of players they have
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