The European picture has now gotten a lot clearer. Celtic will take on Kairat Almaty in their Champions League qualifier, as the side from Kazakhstan were able to get the better of Slovan Bratislava. Of course, many fans would have preferred to face the latter, having seen the Hoops defeat them 5-1 last season. Now, they are headed for what is expected to be a long and difficult away trip, at the very least.
On the other hand, the Rangers were able to secure their spot in the next round of the qualifiers as well. That is despite the fact that they lost the second leg against Viktoria Plzen.
That means that their shaky start to the season continues. While they have done well to make it to the qualifier round in Europe, one cannot overlook the fact that they are already four points behind Celtic when it comes to the Scottish Premiership.
And Russell Martin has another worry coming out of the Plzen game as well as it looks like Cyriel Dessers might have picked up a serious injury. As reported by the Glasgow Times, the Rangers manager said about the situation:
"Yeah, it looks a nasty one, so he's in a brace now.
"We'll have to just wait and see over the next couple of days, have a scan and see."
Rangers handed major injury worry amid growing Celtic lead
That is not the kind of news that Rangers fans would have wanted. They are already struggling to keep up with Celtic in the league. And now might be without Dessers for a while.
It remains to be seen what the extent of the injury turns out to be. It is worth mentioning that the Glasgow Derby is not far away either and the Rangers could end up being without a key player on the day.
As for Celtic, they have a ton to be worried about themselves. And it remains to be seen if they are able to successfully get past the Champions League qualifer and make the competition for the fourth straight season.