Rangers Europa League group stage fixture difficulty rating compared to Man Utd, Tottenham and other Euro giants

Rangers learned which eight teams they will face in the new Europa League format last week and the draw produced a number of tasty ties with clashes against Premier League heavyweights Manchester United and Tottenham among the highlights.

Philippe Clement’s side will play four games at home and four away against different opponents over the next few months after UEFA ditched the old group stage system for a revamped 36-team league table.

The Ibrox club will automatically qualify for the knockout rounds if they can finish in the top eight, while 16 other clubs will compete in the play-offs. Teams who finish 25th or lower will be eliminated from the tournament and will NOT drop into the Europa Conference League.

With Spurs (H), Manchester United (A), Lyon (H), Malmo FF (A), Union Saint-Gilloise (H), OGC Nice (A), Olympiakos (A) and FCSB (H) set to providen formidable opposition, Rangers will hope they can make their mark in Europe’s expanded second tier competition once again.

Opta analysts have released their difficulty rankings for the Europa League fixtures and GlasgowWorld takes a look at where Rangers rank as having the 'hardest' set of opponents.