Rangers discover Champions League 3rd qualifying round opponents as Ukraine or Serbian test lies in store

Rangers will face the winners Dynamo Kyiv or FK Partizan in the Champions League third qualifying round after the draw was made at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon on Monday morning.

Philippe Clement’s side, who were seeded and drawn third, have been paired against the winners of the second qualifying round tie. It means a trip to Ukraine or Serbia is on the cards for the Light Blues, with the first leg due to take place away from home on August 6/7. The second leg well be held a week later at Ibrox on Tuesday, August 13.

Rangers must firstly overcome their opponents and win a two-legged play-off round to reach the competition group stages and bag the riches that come with it after falling short in their efforts to achieve that feat last season. The Light Blues were unconvincing as they managed to see off Swiss club Servette at this stage 12 months ago, running out narrow 3-2 winners on aggregate before slumping to a hugely disappointing 7-3 aggregate loss to PSV Eindhoven in the play-off round under Michael Beale, which included a heavy 5-1 defeat in the Dutch city.

With Clement now in charge of the Govan outfit, the Belgian boss will hope his new-look squad can go one better than last year and advance further in European competition this term as they plot a route back to Europe’s top table among the elite. They have already sampled a taste of playing two Euro giants during pre-season after defeats to Ajax (2-1) in the Netherlands last week and Manchester United (2-0) at Murrayfield Stadium on Saturday - both sides who will compete in the Europa League this term.

Those results underline the enormity of task facing the Light Blues in the coming weeks. So what do we know about Rangers third qualifying round opponents? GlasgowWorld breaks down all the key information...

Having finished runners-up to Celtic in the Scottish Premiership once again last season, the Gers entered the ‘League’ path and were one of four seeded teams on this side of the draw, which meant they avoided the likes of Red Bull Salzburg, LOSC Lille and Slavia Prague.

The six potential unseeded opponents included: Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (Belgium), FC Twente (Netherlands) FC Lugano (Switzerland) or Fenerbahce (Turkey), Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine) or Partizan Belgrade (Serbia).

The draw has paired Rangers with Dynamo or Partizan, ensuring Clement’s men have swerved arguably the toughest test on paper against Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce side. Fans are reminded that the Ukrainians are playing their home second round qualifier against Partizan in the Polish city of Lublin and there will be no fans present at either of the two legs between those sides. That came as a result of a request from Dynamo to avoid any potential crowd clashes after Partizan recently took part in a tournament in Russia.

Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine)

• Founded: 13 May 1927; 97 years ago
• Head Coach: Oleksandr Shovkovskyi
• Ground: NSC Olimpiyskiy (70,050 capacity)
• Nickname: Біло-сині (The Blue & Whites)
• 2022/23: Ukrainian Premier League, 2nd of 16

FK Partizan (Serbia)

• Founded: 4 October 1945; 78 years ago
• Head Coach: Aleksandar Stanojević
• Ground: Partizan Stadium (29,775 capacity)
• Nickname: Парни ваљак / Parni valjak (The Steamroller)
• 2022/23: Serbian SuperLiga, 2nd of 16

Fans reaction to draw:

@JH_72_: “Decent draw, now sign some players.”

@k72beans: “Sign players and we have a chance.”

@mark_sorbie: “Absolutely pointless if we don’t sign first team players.”

@Hardie1981: “Buzzing to not qualify with current squad.”