Rangers Europa League crowd starts to thin as playoff first legs see some big wins

It's just over a week until Rangers learn who they'll face in the last 16 of the Europa League.

Philippe Clement's side swerved the playoff round with a historic 3-2 win over La Liga cracks Real Betis in Seville to top their group, leaving them free this week to concentrate on their nip and tuck Scottish Premiership title race with Celtic. But the Euro stuff is back on the horizon and soon thoughts will turn to the continent and the possibility of perhaps going on another glory run a la 2022.

Rangers know they will avoid some big names who are seeded alongside them for the draw. English Premier League trio Liverpool, Brighton and West Ham are fellow seeds, along with potential future Reds boss Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen. Old foes Slavia Prague, Villarreal and Atalanta make up the rest of the eightsome, with another eight still to progress as unseeded clubs.

The second legs of the playoff rounds are to be played next week, so things could change. But there already a couple of sure things going by the first leg results. Ruben Loftus Cheek was at the double as AC Milan beat Rennes 3-0 at San Siro. FK Qarabag of Azerbaijan sprung a surprise with a 4-2 first leg victory over SC Braga. Portuguese rivals Sporting CP are looking good after a 3-1 win over ten-man Young Boys in Switzerland.

Galatasaray and Sparta Prague both had players sent off as Mauro Icardi's stoppage time strike gave the Turks a 3-2 win in Istanbul. Inaugural Conference League finalists Roma and Feyenoord played out a 1-1 in Rotterdam while it was the same result in Lisbon between Benfica were late, late 2-1 winners over Toulouse, who also joined the red card club. Shakhtar and Marseille shared four goals between them, with Lens and Freiburg ending