Rangers facing unforeseen pressure in Athens as reward of success and cost of failure laid bare

Manager Russell Martin had previously tried to temper optimism ahead of the first leg of this Champions League second qualifying round tie by insisting it wouldn’t be “season-defining”, regardless of the scoreline.

Still in the early stages of a substantial squad refurbishment job, Martin had instead placed the emphasis on the longer term, giving plenty of indication that this work-in-progress he has inherited was not yet ready for a competitive challenge of this nature, even if it has been a while since Panathinaikos belonged among the upper echelons of the European elite.

Had this unsettled Rangers side struggled at Ibrox in the first leg before collapsing in the red-hot furnace of the Olympic Stadium in the return to bow out of the Champions League at the first hurdle, frustration would likely have been fleeting.

Rangers have not appeared in the group stage of the competition since 2022 and only the most impatient or blinkered of their supporters would have expected this current crop to have the wherewithal to make it through three demanding qualifying rounds to end that absence.

An aggregate defeat to Panathinaikos would allow the Light Blues to drop back to their natural habitat of the Europa League qualifiers and give further ammunition to Martin in his ongoing quest to shake more funds out of the club’s new ownership to improve the product on the pitch.

Instead, an exit at this juncture will now be considered far more ignominious than would have been the case when the draw was made. Rangers did toil in the first half of their opening competitive match of the campaign, having cause to thank goalkeeper Jack Butland for shutting out Panathinaikos when the concession of at least one goal looked almost inevitable given the steady flow of traffic towards the Rangers goal.

Fortified by that show of resistance and the red card flashed to the visitors’ Giorgos Vagiannidis, Rangers belatedly presented themselves as an attacking force and goals from Findlay Curtis and Djeidi Gassama delivered a two-goal victory that few would have predicted at the half-time recess.

It has changed the dynamic of the tie and placed unforeseen pressure on Rangers to match their defensive fortitude – and good fortune – of the opening period at Ibrox if they are to withstand what will almost certainly be a full-scale Panathinaikos assault in stiflingly hot and uncomfortable conditions.

Conceding three goals without reply will now be viewed as a capitulation rather than just a one-sided defeat and could also damage morale ahead of the start of the league season and a tricky-looking opener for Rangers away to Motherwell on Saturday evening.

This odyssey to Athens will also place Martin’s tactical preference for a possession-based style further under the microscope. A commitment to playing out from the back can work well in a well-drilled team accustomed to playing in such a fashion against a high press but it proved problematic for this Rangers team, still evolving under new management, in the first half last week.

Were it not for poor finishing and stellar goalkeeping, it would have proven to be a costly approach. Rangers can expect to find themselves retreating even more in this second leg as Panathinaikos look to rescue the situation and chase the three goals they really ought to have scored in Scotland. Will Martin stick to his guns or adapt to the demands of the occasion? It will be fascinating to find out.

Winnable tie awaits

Should Rangers survive the inevitable onslaught coming their way to make it through to the third qualifying round, then suddenly the prospect of advancing to the Champions League groups won’t seem that unrealistic after all.

Assuming Servette can avoid defeat at home to Viktoria Plzen after a narrow win in the Czech Republic in the first leg last week, then Rangers will find themselves with a winnable tie against the Swiss side they defeated at the same stage two years ago. Win that one and they are a play-off tie away from returning to European football’s top table for the first time in three years.

Even a loss in the third qualifying round will guarantee a berth in the Europa League group stage which ought to have been the realistic target from the very start.

It says much about the fluid nature of Continental football in the modern era that the challenge that awaits Rangers should they lose to Panathinaikos looks tougher than what awaits them in the top-tier competition.

Neither Besiktas nor Shakhtar Donetsk (who won 4-2 in Turkey last week) in the Europa League third qualifying round will be straightforward, with a defeat at that point dropping Rangers into the Conference League play-off round and a third attempt at trying to nail down group stage football in some shape or form.

Avoiding a heavy defeat in Athens, then, seems the easiest way to fulfil that ambition and the expectation is that Martin will rely on many of the same players who eked out that victory at Ibrox a week ago.

Few of the squad’s fringe players did enough in the friendly draw with Middlesbrough on Saturday to push themselves into contention, meaning Martin’s selection dilemmas will centre on the fitness of individuals such as Hamza Igamane and Thelo Aasgaard who both missed training again on Tuesday morning due to injury.

That could present further opportunities for Curtis, Gassama, Danilo, Kieran Dowell and co whose mettle will be thoroughly tested by a hostile, 40,000-plus Athens crowd. Few had expected Rangers to be in with a chance of progressing at this halfway stage. Now they have to show they can handle the expectation that comes with it.