Why Rangers fans can dare to dream of further Europa League glory

The road to Seville looks to have opened up invitingly for Rangers after a Europa League draw ceremony on Friday which could scarcely have worked out better had they stage-managed it themselves.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst, with his innate pragmatism, will certainly be looking no further than a quarter-final tie against Braga of Portugal which the Scottish champions will go into as favourites.

But, privately at least, the Rangers manager may share at least a degree of the fevered excitement building among his club’s support over the prospects of the Scottish champions going all the way to the final at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on May 18.

If they can overcome Braga, they will face a semi-final against either RB Leipzig of Germany or Italian side Atalanta. Both are clearly formidable outfits and Rangers would be regarded as the outsiders in a match-up against either.

But with van Bronckhorst’s team drawn to play the second leg at Ibrox, as they will against Braga, the conditions are unquestionably as propitious as they could hope for. Staying on the opposite side of the draw to tournament favourites Barcelona, who play Eintracht Frankfurt in the last eight while West Ham United take on Lyon, has to be regarded as a significant boost to Rangers’ prospects of reaching a European final for the fifth time in their history.

Braga, of course, will sense a similar opportunity and are probably just as content with the draw. Europa League finalists in 2011, when they lost 1-0 to compatriots Porto in Dublin, this is their first appearance in the quarter-finals since 2016.

Video: Red Star Belgrade v Rangers - Best Of The Europa League Last 16 Match Action (Daily Record)

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