Rangers suffer double blow in chase to join Celtic in Champions League

Celtic won the Premiership last season and guaranteed themselves a spot in the Champions League group stage as a result of it. At the start of the previous campaign, many Rangers fans had taken that spot for granted, as the Ibrox club were expected to win the league easily, with the Hoops coming off of a disastrous 2020/21 campaign. It is safe to say that things turned out quite differently.

Now, the Rangers will have to go through the UEFA Champions League qualification process if they are to make the main stage of the competition and standing in their way are Belgian side, Royale Union SG.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side must be confident of their chances though. They have done very well against European opposition in recent times to the point where they were able to reach the Europa League final last year. This time around, they will be hoping to make the group stage of Europe’s elite competition though.

The club have been handed a double blow in that regard. As reported by Scottish Daily Express, John Souttar has not travelled with the Rangers squad ahead of their game with Royale Union SG. Ryan Kent has not either after suffering an injury recently.

Rangers suffer double blow in their chase to join Celtic in the UEFA Champions League group stage

It goes without saying that this is far from ideal for the Rangers, who did not make a great start to the season this weekend.

They appeared to be on the verge of suffering an early blow in the league title race and only a couple of goals in the second half against Livingston managed to save them from dropping points in their opening game of the campaign.

It is safe to say that Royale Union SG will provide them with a tougher test and they will be without two of their first-team stars on the occasion.