How Celtic and Rangers can remain in Europe even if they fail in Europa League

Celtic and Rangers earned wins in the Europa League group stage. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

The wins were needed with both sides eyeing progression to the knockout phase.

Celtic’s 2-0 win over the Hungarian champions took them on to three points and left them four points behind Real Betis and Bayer Leverkusen.

The picture looks slightly better for Rangers who also won 2-0 against Danish opposition.

They are on three points but just a point behind Sparta Prague.

Even if Celtic and Rangers fail to place in the top two, a third-place finish will ensure they will have European football after New Year.

The eight teams finishing third in the Europa League groups will drop into the Conference League and play a preliminary knockout round against the eight runners-up in Uefa’s third competition.

Celtic can secure at least a third place finish with a win in Hungary securing the head-to-head tiebreaker. Rangers can’t due to Brondby’s point with Sparta Prague.

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