Rangers' massive Champions League Tuesday has began with a bang. Earlier than Giovanni van Bronckhorst 's facet have even kicked a ball within the third qualifying spherical towards Union Saint-Gilloise, their potential playoff spherical opponents have been revealed.
The Ibrox facet confronted the potential of drawing the winners of Dynamo Kyiv vs Sturm Graz or PSV Eindhoven vs Monaco. Rangers by no means appear to do issues the straightforward manner on the Continent, so naturally, it was all the time going to be the latter pairing, wasn't it? Their path to the group stage is now set and there is not any denying it is a troublesome one. Ought to van Bronckhorst's crew see off Union SG, they will be off to both France or the Netherlands to face one among two very helpful sides. Nonetheless, no less than it wasn’t Benfica.
A house tie within the first leg has its benefits however, thoughts you, Rangers did appear to thrive on getting groups "again to Ibrox" in final season's run to the Europa League Ultimate. Rangers could also be billed as underdogs in the event that they get previous the Belgians however these exploits on the street Seville means they will maintain no concern, regardless of who comes subsequent.
The ties are set to be performed throughout August 16/17 and 23/24, with UEFA to verify precise dates sooner or later. Right here, Report Sport On-line takes a better have a look at PSV and Monaco.
Who're PSV?
The Eredivisie facet are actually managed by a membership legend in Ruud van Nistelrooy, who's embarking on his first full marketing campaign as boss. For a lot of final season, they have been underneath the steering of Roger Schmidt and pushed Ajax all the way in which within the Dutch league, ultimately dropping out to Erik ten Hag's much-lauded facet by simply two factors after van Nistelrooy took the reigns in March.
They did, nonetheless, beat Ajax 2-1 within the Dutch Cup Ultimate to make sure they didn't end the marketing campaign empty handed and get their new boss off to a promising begin. In Europe, they exited Champions League qualifying on the playoff spherical, dropping into the Europa League group stage the place they met this season's CL third spherical opponents Monaco.
They have been unable to beat the Ligue 1 facet final yr, dropping away at drawing at house. PSV did not progress from their Europa League group, dropping into the Europa Convention League the place they narrowly misplaced to Leicester Metropolis within the quarter-final. This summer time they've signed highly-rated Xavi Simons after his exit from PSG, Luuk de Jong from Sevilla and Guus Til from Spartak Moscow.
In different phrases, they don't seem to be messing about. They've already made a severe assertion of intent by beating 5-3 Ajax within the Johann Cruyff Protect, with Til serving to himself to a hat-trick and Simons scoring the fifth late on.
Rangers and PSV final met within the the 2010/11 Europa League final 16. A Jeremain Lens strike within the second leg at Ibrox proved the one aim of the tie and sufficient to ship the Dutch facet via on the expense of Walter Smith's males. You'd think about, if the 2 groups meet later this month, it will be simply as tight.
Fast details
FORMED: 1913.
STADIUM: Philips Stadion (35,000)
HONOURS: Dutch league winners 24 instances, Dutch cup winners 10 instances, European Cup winners as soon as, UEFA Cup winners as soon as.
MANAGER: Ruud van Nistelrooy. Extremely embellished former Manchester United and Actual Madrid striker changed Roger Schmidt at PSV in March and guided them to a runners-up spot within the Eredivisie.
STAR MAN: Guus Til. Elegant Dutch worldwide was signed in the summertime from Spartak Moscow and launched himself in fashion final week.
INTERESTING FACT: PSV have performed towards Scottish opposition eight instances in Europe and solely received as soon as. Their sole win was in that final assembly with Rangers.
Who're Monaco?
The Ligue 1 facet completed a distant third to winners PSG final season however there's little disgrace in that as of late.
They peaked on the proper time to safe a Champions League qualification spot, nonetheless, successful 9 of their final 10 fixtures and that is momentum they will hope to hold into their assembly with PSV.
Going unbeaten towards the Dutch facet final time period will convey confidence, as will the arrival of Japanese worldwide Takumi Minamino from Liverpool.
Monaco have spent massive this summer time after raking in €80million from Actual Madrid for star man Aurelien Tchouameni. They've splashed €17.8m on Minamino and €12.5m on Breel Embolo from Borussia Monchengladbach, in addition to signing Thomas Didillon on-loan from Cercle Brugge.
Supervisor Phillippe Clement was solely appointed again in January and so should take credit score for his or her stellar late season kind in France, though they did endure a considerably disappointing Europa League exit to Braga, who have been, in fact, later eradicated by Rangers on their return to the ultimate.
Rangers final performed Monaco within the 2000/2001 Champions League group stage. The Ibrox facet received 1-0 in France earlier than a 2-2 attract Glasgow, which they'd definitely take if this time round if each they and Monaco make it to the play off. Rangers' scorer within the victory on the Stade Louis II? A sure Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
Fast details
FORMED: 1924.
STADIUM: Stade Louis II (16,500).
HONOURS: French league winners 8 instances, French cup winners 5 instances, Champions League runners-up, European Cup-Winners Cup runners-up.
MANAGER: Philippe Clement. Gained three titles in a row in Belgian with Genk after which Membership Brugges earlier than transferring to Monaco in January the place they completed third.
STAR MAN: Wissam Ben Yedder. Captain and talisman, the France worldwide netted 25 targets in 29 league begins final season. He value Monaco £35 million 4 years in the past.
INTERESTING FACT: Monaco's first ever sport in European soccer was towards Rangers within the 1961/62 European Cup. They misplaced 3-2 at house, with Alex Scott scoring a double and Jim Baxter opening the scoring. Additionally they misplaced 3-2 at Ibrox.