Rangers posed Europa League seeding danger by Ajax and Dinamo Zagreb should things go wrong in Eindhoven

It hopefully won’t come to it, but if Rangers drop into the Europa League group stage, they SHOULD be in Pot 1 for the draw.

But there is a scenario that would see them bumped from that. Michael Beale’s men take on PSV in a Champions League playoff round rematch for a place in the group stage. It’s a rematch of last year’s clash, which the Gers won 3-2 on aggregate to book their seat at the table with the big boys.

The Dutch club seem to be more heavily fancied one year on. It’s better for Scotland’s coefficient to have Rangers join Celtic, but they won't drop out of European competition regardless, although their status as top dogs in the draw could be under threat. It hinges on two other clubs progressing too or dropping in at various stages so if it comes to it, there is some working out to do.

Rangers have a coefficient ranking of 54. Dinamo Zagreb are just ahead of them on 54, and are playing AEK in the second leg of their third round qualifier in the Champions League A first attempt to play that match in Athens was abandoned after major crowd trouble That’s being played tonight, with the Croats 2-0 up on the night, making it 3-2 on aggregate to the visitors.

There’s also Ajax to consider. The Dutch giants are way ahead in terms of coefficient ranking on 89. They take on Ludogorets in the playoff round of the Europa League round before they can think about the group stages. Get through and they are in pot 1.

However, there is only room for two of the three clubs in pot 1. If Rangers drop into the group stage and Ajax are in there too, then they need to hope Zagreb either make it into the Champions League groups by beating Antwerp, or lose their Europa League playoff tie against Sparta Prague (Because they are in the