Rangers can play without fear against PSV as true cost of missing Champions League bounty is bearable

Everything to gain and nothing to lose may have been the rather simplistic rendering of Rangers’ Champions League play-off decider by Michael Beale at the weekend.

Rangers' James Tavernier and PSV's Sergiño Dest in action during the Champions League play-off first leg that ended l2-2 at Ibrox. An outcome that puts the onus on the Dutch to progress and allows Michael Beale's men to play with a certain freedom in the Eindhoven decider. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

It does genuinely feel that the Ibrox side has more to aim for than be anxious over when going toe-to-toe with PSV in their Philips Stadion on Wednesday evening, though. Various Dutch football big-shots have lined up to dismiss the Ibrox side’s prospects, and their ploys, that leave the tie in the balance following the clubs’ 2-2 draw in the Glasgow first leg a week ago. But even as he disparaged Rangers’ style, Wim van Hanegem touched on a truth that will leave PSV shuffling uncomfortably as they seek to exorcise the demons caused by being the box seat to progress to the group stages of club football’s most prestigious competition courtesy of a 2-2 draw in Scotland last August – only to be eliminated by Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men with a 1-0 defeat on their home soil.

The European Cup winner with Feyenoord, a club he later managed, bemoaned that even though PSV were a better team than Rangers, they had not succeeded in beating them on three occasions in the past 13 months. That there was something about their expansive, play-out-from-the-back approach, that played precisely into their Ibrox rivals’ hands. That possibility can only gnaw at the PSV squad, the majority who will take to the pitch on Wednesday involved as they were on the wrong end of a huge upset a year ago. The comprehensive rebuild initiated by Beale with 16-player turnover underpinned by nine signings – never mind that he was only appointed in November – means Rangers sport a very different look. But the new arrivals have already shown that they can slide under the skins of an opponent that sees the Ibrox men as a lesser to be lashed and have demonstrated they can dig in to cope with being starved of possession and make capital from PSV’s defensive openness courtesy of quick breaks. The exquisite nature of criss-cross build-up that set up Rabbi Matondo’s pristine finish for their second last week giving the lie to Van Hanegem’s claim the Ibrox men “cannot play football”.

What allows them to pose a genuine threat to PSV – even if the home team are rightly strong favourites – is they can play without fear. There is no cliff edge for Beale’s men, owing to the fact that defeat would only mean ending up in the Europa League. In truth, at this stage of their team build – and mindful of the cataclysmic Champions League experience last season which helped derail their league challenge – those group stages would surely be far more profitable to spend the autumn months in. Even if that is in football rather than monetary terms. Yet, even here, all may not be quite what as could first appear.

The Champions League is often described as offering a £30million bounty. However, Rangers’ prize money last season amounted to £22m. To compare the revenue drop, the best parallel would be Celtic’s Europa League campaign of the previous season. In winning three games and finishing third to secure a Conference League last 16 play-off – as the Ibrox side who would feel they could improve on through being assured second seed status in any Europa League sections – their rivals banked around £11m in prize money. Now, £11m isn’t nothing, but it isn’t make or break as Rangers pursue a more prudent model, one that will see their summer transfer spend largely covered by outgoings if Glen Kamara is sold to Leeds United for £5m this week.

It isn’t that Rangers have nothing to lose in Eindhoven, but more there are compensations if they fail to win.