THE riches which accompany qualification for the Champions League proper have long been attractive for the custodians of Scottish clubs.
But for the current Rangers directors, who have spent just £3m on new players this summer and whose limited resources have been further stretched by their enforced move from Ibrox to Hampden, the windfall is vital.
Banking a substantial eight figure sum from the new 32 team league phase – a Swiss format which will see participants play eight games against as many different opponents, not six games against three rivals home and away – will be a game changer for the Glasgow giants.
Fortunately for manager Philippe Clement, he had a player who was capable of altering the outcome of the third qualifying round encounter with Dynamo Kyiv in the Lublin Arena in Poland tonight in his squad.
Rangers were tipped to endure a difficult evening against formidable Ukrainian opponents who had thrashed Partizan Belgrade of Serbia 9-2 on aggregate last month.
The 0-0 draw that the Govan outfit – who had failed to win any of their pre-season outings against Ajax, Manchester United, Birmingham City and Union Berlin - were held to in their William Hill Premiership opener against Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday hardly filled their followers with confidence ahead of their overseas trip.
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That stalemate did nothing to dispel the growing feeling that an injection of freshness and quality is desperately needed to compete on the continent and challenge for major honours on the home front this term. Not least in the final third. Cyriel Dessers had drawn a blank.
But the much-maligned Nigerian striker, who Clement had leapt to the defence of during the pre-match press conference on Monday night, popped up in the fourth minute of added-on-time at the end of the match and netted what could prove to be an invaluable equaliser from close range.
James Tavernier and his team mates had had their moments during the first-half. Tom Lawrence and Dessers tested Heorhiy Bushchan from outside the penalty area early on.
And Ross McCausland, who was drafted in to the starting line-up due to the injury which is going to sideline Oscar Cortes for four to five weeks, did superbly to cut inside and hit the left upright with a curling effort.
But goalkeeper Jack Butland was unable to prevent Dynamo captain Andriy Yarmolenko from side-footing a Vladyslav Vanat delivery beyond him eight minutes before Lithuanian referee Donatas Rumsas blew his whistle.
Clement realised he needed to do something to prevent Oleksandr Shovkovskyi’s charges doing so much damage down the left flank and he duly did so by removing the ineffectual Scott Wright and putting on Jefte.
The Brazilian made a positive impression on his competitive debut for his new club. He supplied Dessers in the area with a fine cross shortly after taking to the field and the striker was only denied an equaliser by the fingertips of Bushchan.
The Rangers manager had new recruits Vaclav Cerny, who took over from McCasuland after an hour, and Robin Propper, who only arrived last week, on the bench.
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But were their fellow substitutes Leon King, Cole McKinnon or Robbie Fraser, all young academy graduates, really going to come on and have a major impact on proceedings? Clement was short of options with Danilo not fully fit.
No matter. Dessers, who has frustrated as much as he has delighted supporters since arriving in a £4.5m move from Cremonese in Italy last summer, turned a Cerny cross in at the near post at the death.
The Champions League qualifiers are notoriously difficult for Scottish teams to negotiate. Traditionally, much of their transfer business gets done just before the window closes at the end of August after they have been played. But the Ibrox club have given themselves an outstanding chance of progressing with a battling display which went a long way towards silencing their critics.
They did well enough during the course of the 90 minutes to suggest they can prevail at Hampden next week with tens of thousands of their supporters roaring them on. And the return of Dujon Sterling, who replaced Connor Barron in the second-half, was a definite positive.
Reaching the play-off will be worth £3.7m to the winning side. That is a fraction of the £30 million they will receive for making it all the way through to the actual tournament. Still, it will be most welcome at Rangers in their current predicament. Not to mention hugely important.
If Dessers can be the difference between success and failure he will repay his fee many times over. Maybe then he will get the credit he deserves.
