Rangers and Hibs discover European opponents

Yahoo

a day ago

Panathinaikos were second in last season's Greek top flight [Getty Images]
Rangers have been drawn against Panathinaikos in the second qualifying round of the Champions League.
The Scottish Premiership runners-up will be at home for the first leg on 22/23 July, with the return in Greece the following week.
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The winners of the first-round tie between Northern Ireland champions Linfield and Republic of Ireland counterparts Shelbourne will face Qarabag of Azerbaijan.
Should Welsh champions The New Saints win their tie against Shkendija of North Maceonia, they will face either FCSB of Romania or Inter Club d'Escaldes of Andorra.
Meanwhile, Hibernian will face Danish side Midtjylland in the Europa League second qualifying round.
Rangers drawn with highest-ranked Greeks
Panathinaikos' visit will mark Russell Martin's first competitive game as Rangers head coach and the former Southampton boss has been handed the toughest of their possible draws despite the Ibrox side having been seeded.
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All three potential opponents were, like Rangers, runners-up in their domestic leagues, but while the Greek side are 111th in the European club rankings, 86 places behind Rangers, Swiss side Servette are 139th (one behind Heart of Midlothian) and Norwegians Brann 189th.
The side managed by former Egypt and Benfica head coach Rui Vitoria finished 16 points behind Olympiakos in the Greek Super League last season, having overtaken AEK Athens after the league split.
Panathinaikos have never lost to Scottish opponents over 90 minutes in four meetings with Rangers, two with Motherwell and one with Aberdeen, winning four of their seven games.
However, it was Rangers who progressed when they last met the Ibrox side.
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Having beaten Aberdeen 3-0 at home in the 2007-08 Uefa Cup group stage, the Greeks exited on away goals after a 0-0 stalemate in Glasgow was followed by a 1-1 draw in Athens in the round of 32.
They had beaten Rangers 3-1 at Ibrox, and drew 1-1 at home, in the Champions League group stage in 2003, while they eased aside Motherwell 5-0 on aggregate in their latest meeting with a Scottish side in 2012 - in the Champions League third qualifying round.
Panathinaikos have not reached the Champions League proper since 2010-11 and last season started in Europa League qualifying, beating Botev Plovdiv but losing to Ajax before qualifying for the Conference League by defeating Lens.
They lost 4-1 at home to eventual winners Chelsea and beat The New Saints 2-0 in Wales in the new league stage, finishing 13th, before beating Vikingur Reykjavik in the knockout phase and then losing to Fiorentina in the last 16.
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Rangers lost their opening Champions League qualifier to Dynamo Kyiv last season under Philippe Clement but reached the Europa League quarter-finals, by which time interim head coach Barry Ferguson was in charge.
Teams winning their second qualifying round ties face two more rounds to make the league stage.
Hibs face Danish Superliga runners-up
Hibs return to European football after a year's gap having reached the Conference League play-off round last time round, when they lost to Aston Villa.
Having finished third in the Premiership, David Gray's side start this season's campaign in the Europa League and will visit Midtjylland on 24 July, with the Danes heading to Leith for the second leg a week later.
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Unseeded in Wednesday's draw, Hibs avoided Belgium's Anderlecht and the winners of ties between Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk against Finland's Ilves Tampere and Moldova's Sheriff Tiraspol against Prishtina of Kosovo.
Thomas Thomasberg's Midtjylland were second in the Danish Superliga last season and finished 20th in the Europa League league phase before losing to Real Sociedad in the knock-out stage play-offs.
The Danes have twice previously played Scottish sides, losing to Rangers in Europa League qualifying in 2019 but knocking Celtic out of the Champions League qualifiers two years later.