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Who Rangers can face in Champions League qualifying after Europa heartache and how they can still be seeded above Celtic

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IT was a match with a cool £60m resting on the outcome – but they couldn’t bring the trophy back to Glasgow.

But Rangers still have one last chance to claim an estimated £40m bounty from participation in the Champions League group stages next season after their Europa League final heartache – via the more conventional qualification route.

A gutted Giovanni van Bronckhorst after the penaltiesCredit: Getty
Van Bronckhorst consoles gutted skipper James TavernierCredit: Getty

And if they make it past two rounds of competition, they could even end up a pot ABOVE Premiership champions Celtic in the group stages.

It is Eintracht Frankfurt – and not the Gers – who go straight in among the top eight seeds for next season’s Champions League, not to mention getting the privilege of battling it out with either Real Madrid or Liverpool in the Super Cup final in Helsinki in August.

While Rangers lick their wounds after that luckless defeat on penalty kicks in Seville, thoughts at Ibrox turn to Saturday’s Scottish Cup final with Hearts – and then the summer qualifiers.

And the good news for the Gers is that their recent exploits in Europe mean that they will be SEEDED for both the third qualifying round and play-off round.

That will keep them away from Portuguese giants Benfica and Dynamo Kyiv – should the Ukrainians make it through their second round tie – in the third qualifying round.

While one more team will be seeded and not every league in Europe is completed, for now the teams they could face in the third qualifying round are Dutch outfit PSV Eindhoven, the third placed finisher in France, which is currently Marseille.

Austrians Sturm Graz and surprise Belgian runners up Union Saint-Gilloise are also definite possibilties, as are last season’s Celtic tormentors Midjytlland, assuming they can make it past the second qualifying round.

The second placed team in Cyprus, currently APOEL Nicosia, and the second placed side in Turkey , currently Fenerbahce, are also possibilities.

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Get through the third qualifying round and they would then battle it out over two legs for a spot in the group stages.

Make it that far, and Rangers could even be ranked a pot ABOVE Celtic in the groups, by dint of their superior club ranking, 50.25 to 33.00.

Ange Postecoglou”s men will almost certainly be in Pot 4.

Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk

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