Celtic, Hearts & Rangers - The 10 defining days in Europe, qualification chances, the co-efficient situation

It hasn’t been a brilliant season so far for Scottish clubs in Europe. There have been a numerous heavy defeats, an embarrassing exit – but importantly three teams remain in group stage competition.

For that trio, Celtic, Hearts and Rangers, the next ten days are set to be defining as they each play twice, a double header against the same opposition.

Rangers are at Anfield tonight to face Liverpool for the first time in a competitive fixture in their history. They do it again at Ibrox next week. Celtic play RB Leipzig in Germany then at Parkhead, while Hearts welcome the famous purple kits of Fiorentina to Tynecastle Park before – officially – 2,314 supporters travel to the Stadio Artemio Franchi a week on Thursday.

The current situation

As things stand, it is Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men who are perched in the most precarious of positions. The team did excellently to reach the group stages, displaying that Comeback King mentality which has served them very well in recent years in the Europa League. Just when you think their time is up, they start to bend it to their will.

That ability on the European stage has made their group stage performance damning.

It was difficult to feel any sympathy for Van Bronckhorst after the thrashing by Ajax when he talked of the “hundreds of millions” you need to compete at Champions League level and how “the thinking on the ball, the ball control, the speed of passing. It’s all from a really high level”. While it is true, it is also true that Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt, Porto and RB Leipzig are in this season's competition. They are all teams Rangers have competed with and in a few cases bettered in recent seasons in the Europa League.

The next 180 minutes will give an indication if Rangers can produce the unthinkable and finish in the top two, give themselves a chance of claiming third spot or being delivered the wooden spoon.

Rangers and Celtic have big Champions League games across the next ten days. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Two defeats will likely see them needing at least four points from the last two games to finish third. Play like they did against Napoli prior to James Sands’ sending off and they can make it very uncomfortable for Liverpool. Add in the Ibrox factor, the Scotland v England element and the second match could produce a special evening in Govan.

For Celtic, these games with RB Leipzig are massive ahead of hosting Shakhtar Donetsk. The Germans have plenty of quality but also inconsistency. In their last six games they have lost four – three by three goals or more – but have also won 3-0 and 4-0, the former against Borussia Dortmund.

Ange Postecoglou's men should be targeting four points from the double header, while hoping Real Madrid manage to do the double over Shakhtar.

That entirely conceivable prospect would put Celtic in a position where they can beat the Ukrainians at home to secure passage to the knockout stages.

Hearts face a big double header with Fiorentina. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

The encounter in eastern Germany on Wednesday, however, will be most difficult and the possibility of being the most entertaining in the group stages. Celtic are waiting on the fitness of Cameron Carter-Vickers, who has missed the last two matches, demonstrating the team are more fallible without the American. Both teams have an abundance of attacking quality, like to play on the front foot with intensity and put pressure on the opposition high up the park. If the game becomes stretched and open it will likely resemble an NBA match.

If Celtic were to come through the two games with three points it wouldn’t be the worst return and still give the team a good chance of progression.

Moving into the Conference League, Hearts currently sit second in their group, the only Scottish team to have won a group stage match this season.

İstanbul Başakşehir, like Real Madrid in Celtic's group, are in the midst of running away with top spot. They should emerge from two games with the limited RFS sitting on 12 points. Fiorentina’s surprise draw with the Latvian champions has given Robbie Neilson’s side a real chance of second.

It is these two games which will prove key, especially the first one in Gorgie. If Hearts can utilise the Tynecastle factor and get a result against a side which is struggling with one win in ten, it would likely take qualification into the final fixture, providing RFS are seen off at home.

If Hearts were to win on Thursday, it would require Fiorentina to win their remaining three fixtures to have any chance of overtaking the Jambos.

No matter the sequence of results, if you were to offer the club's support that there would still be a chance of qualification going into the final game each and every one would snap your hand off.

What about the ...

Co-efficient? It has, in recent years, taken on a life of its own. It can't be that long before you encounter someone who doesn’t support a team but is ‘a fan of the co-efficient’.

It’s not a Scottish football season without someone channelling Helen Lovejoy, whining ‘won’t somebody please think of the co-efficient’.

While there have been plenty of ‘humour’ amongst fans about their team carrying the responsibility of the co-efficient on their shoulders, no supporter of Celtic, Rangers or Hearts is going into a big European night thinking about some daft number with a decimal point. Yet, its importance is there to see with two Champions League entrants and a team outwith the Old Firm getting group stage exposure and the revenue which comes with it.

It hasn’t been the best campaign so far. Out of 16 games played by Scottish clubs, there have been four wins and ten defeats, five of which have been three or more goals.

This has led to a tightening of co-efficient table with Belgium and their four clubs doing well in the group stage of all three competitions, while Austria are also close.