Rangers TV fears allayed but Champions League blackout could be on the cards

Here we go again for Rangers. The treacherous path to the Champions League main phase begins on Tuesday evening in a small city on the eastern fringes of Poland, as Philippe Clement's team take on Dynamo Kyiv in the third qualifying round of Europe's premier tournament.

This is not unfamiliar territory for Rangers. Last season they met Servette at this stage of the competition, squeezing past them before being unceremoniously dumped out of the tournament in the play-off round by PSV Eindhoven. While the Swiss could be viewed as a kind draw, this assignment is altogether more complex.

Ukrainian giants Dynamo Kyiv have a storied European history and while they aren't quite the vintage of Andriy Shevchenko and Sergiy Rebrov, last season's Vyshcha Liha runners-up are more than capable at this level. Just look at the way they clinically dispatched Partizan Belgrade in the last round, prevailing with an aggregate score of 9-2.

Their manager, former goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskyi, was a team-mate of Shevchenko and Rebrov back in the late nineties. He knows what Champions League progress means, having made the semi-finals as a player. Last season, they failed to make an impact in Europe, going out to Besiktas in the Conference League play-off round. There is a desire to right those wrongs.

Philippe Clement leaves Glasgow Airport on Monday as Rangers head to Lublin | SNS Group

Due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, Dynamo Kyiv have the handicap of playing away from home. The Arena Lublin, a 15,000-seater bowl, is their designated stadium for this tie, some 640 kilometres from the Ukrainian capital. Dynamo, unfortunately, have become somewhat accustomed to playing away from the NSC Olimpiyskiy. Perhaps they can share how to deal with such a scenario with Rangers, who are also displaced from Ibrox but for very different reasons. Steel shipment delays will mean that the second leg of this tie next week will be staged at Hampden.

Rangers' chief ambition is clear: make sure the tie is alive going back to Glasgow. Dynamo Kyiv showed how ruthless they can be in taking apart Partizan. Their squad is almost exclusively made up of Ukrainians and includes current internationalist Mykola Shaparenko, who scored at the Euros, and dangerous wide forward Andriy Yarmolenko, once of West Ham and a creative force.

Idle over the weekend as Rangers were labouring to a 0-0 draw with Hearts in the opening match of the Premiership season, Dynamo appear in a better place than their Scottish counterparts. Clement has said on more than one occasion that the real Rangers will not present themselves until the winter. The sizeable rebuild undertaken by the club has resulted in eight new players coming in, although only one - Connor Barron - started at Tynecastle. The nucleus of the team is made up of last season's squad.

Of course, men with experience of how to negotiate this type of assignment have departed this summer. Defenders Connor Goldson and Borna Barisic plus midfielder John Lundstram have called time on their Ibrox tenure. The muscle memory of winning tight qualifiers is not as strong as it used to be. Captain James Tavernier - himself the subject of intense speculation about his future - will need to step up to the plate.

Rangers did not show a great deal against Hearts to suggest that they are favourites to usurp the Ukrainians, even on neutral territory. This tie may have come too soon for Clement and his revamp, given the callow nature of his team. The Belgian signed a new contract last week until the summer of 2028 and in the words of the club's chairman John Bennett, they are "all in" with the former Club Brugge and Monaco manager.

Defender Robin Propper could make his debut against Dynamo Kyiv | SNS Group

"Philippe's got to clean up the mistakes of last summer, while also being in a position where he can't afford to make mistakes himself," former Rangers striker Kenny Miller noted ahead of the match. "The slight concern for me is that I can't remember a summer - and I'm talking about any team, by the way - where so many starting players have needed to be signed. It's not a good position to be in.

"The other side of the coin though, is that maybe a clear-out was needed. It's so important that the people coming into the building are not only better players, but are the right types of players, with the right characteristics to deal with the pressure of playing for such a demanding club, where the expectations are so high."

Given the tumult Rangers find themselves in right now, projections in this tournament are lower than they were a year ago. Progressing past Dynamo Kyiv would bring a tie against either Austrian side Salzburg or Dutch outfit Twente. Rangers already know the latter quite well, given they sold Sam Lammers to them earlier in the summer and then bought defender Robin Propper from them. Defeat will mean another stab at the Europa League, a competition Rangers are very familiar with.

Rangers faced Servette at this stage of the competition last season | SNS Group

  Propper, 30, boarded the flight to Poland on Monday afternoon and given his age and experience, may be parachuted straight into the centre of defence for his debut. Clement's options, however, are largely limited. Winger Oscar Cortes picked up an injury against Hearts and is a major injury doubt. Dujon Sterling missed that assignment too and Clement will hope to have him available given his power and athleticism.

Rangers will hope those fans that travel with them will be on their best behaviour, with UEFA monitoring the match after a Totenkopf pro-Nazi flag was spotted in the away end at Tynecastle. Strongly condemned by the club and the vast majority of the support, Rangers do not need such a sideshow. Those back home have at least been given the chance to watch proceedings after Premier Sports took up the match rights at short notice, allaying fears of no TV broadcast.

The riches on offer in this competition would be gratefully received by a Rangers hierarchy needing every penny they can get their hands on to fund the reconstruction of the first-team squad. They will hope - but not expect - that there are no further Champions League black-outs.