Michael Beale swerves Rangers mind games as ramped up Champions League pressure met with measured response

From Ufa in the Russian east to the shores of the Atlantic on Portugal’s western coast, Michael Beale has been there to see Rangers rack up some remarkable moments on the road.

As part of Steven Gerrard’s supporting cast, the former first-team coach helped the club route a path back from the European wilderness as Ibrox was reestablished as a stopping point for the continents’ travelling soccer circus. That night in Ufa, when Gers survived with nine-men to book a Europa League group stage slot against the odds, saw the club launch a journey that would eventually pave the way for the run to the 2021 Europa League final. In between, Beale was on the touchline as Rangers were validated against Villareal, monstered Midtjylland and went punch for punch with Porto.

And it was the tactics he helped devise which saw the Ibrox side also pick up impressive results away from home against Feyenoord, Benfica and Braga. In the plush surrounds of Geneva, however, the buck stops with the Londoner as he takes charge on his first Euro away day as manager. But Beale is hoping to summon the spirit of his first Ibrox tenure as he looks to steer his side past Servette and another step closer to the Champions League. Asked which of those results on foreign soil stood out most, he joked: “I think all the favourite ones for Rangers probably came in the season I wasn’t here to be honest!

“But listen, we have done really well away from home in Europe. I remember Porto away was a special night because Luis Diaz scored a fantastic goal early in the game but it was a game we dominated and the team grew a lot from that.

“We had Benfica away as well, Feyenoord was another night. You think all the way back to Ufa in 2018 when we qualified. We