The benefit of Rangers’ European exploits to Scottish football has been laid bare with the Ibrox club among the top 10 highest scoring clubs in Europe in terms of UEFA coefficient points.
The Gers made it all the way to the Europa League final in Seville last year, narrowly losing out to Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties. That went a long way to boosting Scotland’s ranking on the continent, but the Light Blues’ consistency over the last five years sees them ranked among some of the biggest names in the game when it comes to racking up the numbers.
Since Steven Gerrard was appointed back in 2018, Rangers’ European record has improved dramatically. It’s been a far cry from the dark days of Pedro Caixinha standing in a bush, remonstrating with angry fans after an embarrassing defeat to Luxembourg minnows Progres Niderkorn. Following his first season in charge, Gerrard guided the club to the group stage of the Europa League, where the foundations were laid for future years in matches against Villarreal, Spartak Moscow and Rapid Vienna.
There was progression to the last 16 the next season after making it out of a group including Feyenoord, Porto and Young Boys. Braga were dispatched in the first knockout round before Bayer Leverkusen proved too strong.
After a 55th title was delivered, the Champions League proved a step too far as Antonio Colak's double for Malmo dumped his future employers out in the qualifying rounds. However, that proved to be a blessing in disguise as despite Gerrard's departure for Aston Villa a few months later, Gio van Bronckhorst continued the Europa League form all the way to the Final.
The Dutchman succeeded where Gerrard failed in successfully negotiating his way to the Champions League group stage, dumping old Dutch mate Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s PSV out in the playoff round. However, the less said about the campaign that followed the better, in which Rangers didn't pick up a point and became the worst team to ever take part at that stage of the competition.
Nevertheless, their record overall makes for positive reading. They rank sixth in Europe for coefficient points gained in the last five seasons, accumulating 18.125. Only Manchester City, Ajax, Bayern Munich, Dinamo Zagreb and PSG have picked up more. Rangers have also outperformed the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Juventus and Barcelona.
Celtic, with 12.100 points over the last five campaigns, were ranked 31st in the list. The Hoops were behind Dortmund but ahead of old pals Villarreal, Serie A champions Napoli and Rangers' foes, Frankfurt.
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