In Friday’s Europa League Last 16 draw, Rangers were paired with Crvena Zvezda, missing out on the ‘dreaded’ fixture against Spartak Moscow.
The Serb club, otherwise known as Red Star Belgrade, will provide formidable opposition on the pitch and in the stands, a ferocious enviornment will meet the Rangers team and supporters who will make the journey to the Balkan state.
On the flip side, with the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Russian football clubs and the national association are being hit with bans and sanctions, as well as in business, political and economic terms in order for Russia to feel the impact of the squeeze being placed upon it.
Just this afternoon, it has been reported that UEFA are close to removing Spartak Moscow from this season’s Europa League tournament leading to the possibility of a bye to the quarter final for RB Leipzig as well as the lesser chance of another club being resinstatement. No final ruling has been communicated by UEFA yet, with further information expected tomorrow.
Sky Sports also carried a quote from Oliver Mintzlaff, CEO of the Leipzig club who stated the following:
“We continue to be in close contact with the associations and have complete confidence in UEFA and their decision. We assume the games will be cancelled.”
A potential full suspension has also been mooted, as below.
NEW | Understand that FIFA is in advanced talks over the full suspension of Russia until further notice.
They are working closely with UEFA and an announcement is expected later today.— Dan Roan (@danroan) February 28, 2022
Impact
Given the political discourse between the UK and Russia, you can only imagine the furore that would been invoked if it had been Rangers who was drawn against Spartak. A messy diplomatic incident would have occured with a lot of noise from the media and other outlets filling the vaccum in between.
The caveat to the above would have been a possible route to the quarter-final stage but at Rangers the preferred way is to progress with merit won on the pitch.
Overall, it is an unwanted headache that has been staved off with the draw against Red Star as the club reaches the Last 16 for the third consecutive season, following on from the games against Bayer Leverkusen and Slavia Prague in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, respectively.
The opportunity to go one step further this time round is a real possibility for the Scottish champions, whilst the Serbs are also said to be happy with the draw.