Why Rangers' Ibrox clash with Servette is more than just about Champions League progress

The Rangers squad prepares for Wednesday night's Champions League qualifier against Servette.

The old adage used to be that Rangers or Celtic were only ever two games away from a crisis. Michael Beale could be forgiven for hearing that and offering up a wry smile. Chance would be a fine thing.

The reaction to his side’s opening day league defeat to Kilmarnock has been instant and, in places, thoroughly damning. Beale has been around Glasgow long enough now over two spells to no longer be surprised by the rush to judge his new-look squad in a city where patience tends to be as scarce a commodity as buses that run on time.

One league defeat in the grander scheme of things – with 37 matches still to play – is hardly a disaster. Rangers could, in theory, have closed that three-point gap to Celtic by the end of the weekend. The problem it causes for Beale, however, is not to be found in the state of the Premiership table but in the needless additional air of anxiety it had added ahead of his first-ever European tie as manager.

Had a Rangers team that started with five new recruits, before another, Danilo, emerged from the substitutes bench, won at Rugby Park as had been widely expected then few of their supporters would be worrying unduly about the visit of Servette to Ibrox on Champions League duty on Wednesday night. The Geneva-based club finished second in the Swiss Super League last season, a whopping 16 points behind champions Young Boys, and needed a penalty shoot-out to progress beyond Genk in the previous round of this competition. Despite their opponents' undoubted tenacity and scrappiness, this is a tie that Rangers ought to be winning.

Michael Beale believes his team can improve upon last weekend's defeat by Kilmarnock.

Now, though, there is lingering uncertainty over some of the players Beale has signed and just how quickly he can mould them into the sort of fast-attacking, defensively-slick unit the manager desires them to be. If they don’t improve significantly from Saturday night and Servette end up sneaking back to Switzerland with a first-leg advantage, then whispers about the afore-mentioned “crisis” will only grow louder and with greater substance to them, too.

It is why the first leg in Govan carries a significance beyond simply improving Rangers’ prospects of returning to the Champions League group stage. A resounding victory, with the summer signings making their mark, kills stone dead any questions over the club’s recruitment and the general direction of travel. Anything less than that, however, and the grumbling from supporters will rumble all the way to Saturday’s home league game with Livingston. It is shaping up to be a pivotal evening in more ways than one.

“This is a club of big highs and very, very big lows and not much in between, we know that,” said Beale. “Naturally we’re hugely frustrated and disappointed with the weekend. It wasn’t what any of us wanted. But we don’t have time to dwell on it with a really important game on Wednesday night.

“It’s a different competition. We can deal with the league again when we face Livingston. But, yes, there’s a lot of frustration in the air, and the game with Servette can’t come around quickly enough for the players, staff and the fans as well. We trust the fans will be right behind the team at Ibrox and it’s important we play well on the night.”

Rangers captain James Tavernier trudges off after the 1-0 loss at Kilmarnock.

Reaching the Champions League group stage last year has created an expectation that Rangers will do so again this year but it is no sure-fire thing. Their European pedigree and depth of squad experience should be enough to carry them through this tie against an injury-depleted Servette, but a likely rematch with PSV Eindhoven in the playoff – should the Dutch side see off Sturm Graz in this round – would be a far sterner test of Rangers’ credentials. Little surprise, then, that when Beale was courting prospective signings this summer, he didn’t include Champions League football as a selling point.

“No, because we couldn’t offer it,” he admitted. “We can offer the qualifiers of course. But while we can offer (Europa League) group stage football, the ultimate aim is to get in the Champions League. We know we have to beat teams that are excellent sides, just like ourselves, in their own national leagues. European football is definitely something players come here for but in terms of competition we can’t specify that unless we win the league. If we win the league, then you can guarantee Champions League.”

Rangers reached that stage without winning the league last year but didn’t cover themselves in glory when they got there. For those, like John Lundstram, who were part of the squad beaten in all six group games, it shapes part of their motivation to return to that platform and try to make amends. “In the Champions League last year we didn’t quite perform as well as we wanted to,” said the midfielder with a hefty dollop of understatement. “We want to correct that this year and make a better showing of ourselves. That’s motivation for me personally. We know we can do better.”

Beale experienced this hurdle of the Champions League qualifying process two years ago as part of Steven Gerrard’s backroom staff. Now he is the man in the spotlight, the one who will garner the praise should they progress and suffer the brickbats if they fall short. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

“You have to enjoy it,” he insisted. “We’re playing in a Champions League qualifier at Ibrox. As a coach you are in a very privileged position. These are your guys. You work with them every day and you know the hopes and aims they’ve got.

“You know how much it means to people inside the club, they’re invested in it. I think I’m in a hugely privileged position and you have to remember that. The last few days have not been ideal on the back of the result at the weekend, but I wouldn’t want to switch positions with anyone else. I love the job that I have.”