Blown £30m Rangers opportunity highlighted as familiar Euro foes run riot to re-open wounds
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When Rangers crashed out of the Champions League qualifiers this summer, Philippe Clement made no bones about the impact it would have.
The Gers were defeated 1-0 by Dynamo Kyiv at Hampden in a costly 2-1 aggregate loss which landed a huge blow on Clement's summer rebuild.
The financial cost of Rangers' failure to reach the Champions League will sit somewhere around £30m, but the issues run much deeper.
Old Firm rivals Celtic got their ticket to the group stages in the wake of Rangers' title collapse last season.
The Parkhead side have also just added £1.8m to their coffers with a thumping and morale-boosting 5-1 opening day win over Slovan Bratislava.
But another result in MD1 of this season's new-look Champions League will also sting at Rangers as a familiar Euro foe makes an exceptional start.
Rangers Champions League Playoff foes swatted aside
Had Rangers overcome Dynamo Kyiv, the club would've met RB Salzburg in the Champions League Playoff.
The Gers certainly have the right to feel peeved.
Jefte's soft second yellow card sticks in the craw and the decision to send the Brazilian off eventually swung the game in the Ukranians' favour.
But the Playoff proved a step too far for Kyiv who were dispatched 3-1 on aggregate by Red Bull-backed RB Salzburg.
Another side who made the group stages this summer, albeit through the Champions Path, was Czech outfit Sparta Prague.
Rangers, you'll remember, faced Sparta Prague in the Europa League last season and earned a home win & away draw against the Czechs.
Philippe Clement even branded Sparta's then Danish manager Brian Priske as a close friend from the their days together at Genk in Belgium.
Now under the management of Priske's former assistant Lars Friis, who took over in the wake of the Dane's move to Feyenoord, Sparta have just run riot over RB Salzburg in Prague.
In a stunning victory, Sparta Prague hammered Salzburg 3-0 to lay out their intentions in the Champions League group stages.
The result also highlights a missed opportunity for Rangers, who might've fancied their chances of pipping Salzburg at the Playoff stage.
Cost of Champions League failure being laid bare
We hope every single Rangers player feels the impact of this week's Champions League kick-off.
As if the Ibrox team didn't need another reminder that they'd slipped into European football's secondary competition, the Europa League doesn't kick off until next week.
Rangers fans have had to endure a thumping Celtic performance at this level as chaos envelops the Ibrox side from almost every angle.
This Rangers team ought to be feeling the same.
It's been an excruciating start to the campaign for Ibrox fans who are in dire need of some positivity.
So far this season, every major challenge has been met with failure at Rangers with the Champions League qualification effort and the Old Firm trip to Celtic Park devastating the confidence of fans.
A challenging Europa League group campaign – where Rangers will receive scant reward for potential humblings at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United – is also so far failing to inspire supporters.
Yes, the failure to reach the Champions League group stages has cost Rangers on a financial level.
But the impact of that moment, not helped by the delay in the reconstruction of Ibrox, will linger on into the months ahead.
Abdallah Sima was instead ordered to go on loan to Champions League side Brest, Rangers didn't manage to bring in every player Philippe Clement wanted to this summer.
Celtic's presence in the tournament is also widening the pre-existing financial gap and there are fears that even the Europa League will be too much for Clement's youthful squad.
Worse, some worry the demands of the competition on this undercooked squad could yet prove a distraction at the top of the Premiership table.
If the club, players and support didn't regret reaching the Champions League enough back in early August, they certainly will now.
Let's hope it's a lesson everyone at Rangers, from the boardroom to the dressing room, learn from in the seasons ahead.
These qualifiers are crucial matches even at this early juncture of the season and in many ways, they can define the campaign both on and off the park.
