Rangers exit from the Champions League could be a "blessing".
That's the opinion of Danny Murphy, with the former Liverpool midfielder believing that Philippe Clement's squad have more chance of being competitive in the Europa League.
The Light Blues were beaten 2-0 by Dynamo Kyiv at Hampden Park on Tuesday night following a 1-1 draw in Poland the week before.
Rangers are currently playing at a temporary home due to delays to building works at Ibrox, and the Champions League third qualifying round blow has seen them lose out on a potential £40million windfall, should they have progressed past RB Salzburg and into the new top-tier league phase.
Clement admitted that transfer targets will have to change because of the position Rangers find themselves in.
But Murphy reckons the Scottish giants have saved themselves from further humiliation.
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Speaking about Rangers' current stature within European football, Murphy told talkSPORT: "I think from a footballing perspective they are trying to bridge the gap with Celtic.
“The opposition they’d come up against in the Champions League would be much more intense and it would destroy confidence as they’d lose more games.
“They can go far in the Europa League as they have before so it could be a blessing, even if fans would prefer to see them in the Champions League. Competing in that competition and competing with Celtic weekly in the league would have been difficult.”
Whereas outspoken media personality, Simon Jordan, doubled down on Rangers’ woes by taking a cheap shot at Scottish football.
The former Crystal Palace owner said: “Rangers would have gone into the Champions League, like Celtic will, and it’ll be written about how they’re not winning games, how Scottish teams are not progressing. They’ve done themselves a favour.”
