Rangers' Champions League opponents confirmed as warning sent with resounding 9-2 aggregate victory

Trip to Poland beckons for Philippe Clement’s side

Rangers will face Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League third qualifying round after the Ukrainians secured a resounding 9-2 aggregate victory over Partizan Belgrade.

Kyiv took a four-goal advantage into Wednesday's second leg in Serbia following a 6-2 win in the home tie – which was played in Lublin, Poland due to the ongoing war with Russia – the previous week.

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And Oleksandr Shovkovskyi's side once again proved too strong for their opponents with a comfortable 3-0 win at the Partizan Stadium thanks to goals from Andriy Yarmolenko, Vladyslav Vanat and Oleksander Karavayev.

Rangers manager Philippe Clement will face Dinamo Kyiv in the Champions League third qualifying round. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)Rangers manager Philippe Clement will face Dinamo Kyiv in the Champions League third qualifying round. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)
Rangers manager Philippe Clement will face Dinamo Kyiv in the Champions League third qualifying round. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Kyiv will now face Philippe Clement’s side in the next round with the first leg due to take place at the Lublin Arena on August 6, kick-off 7pm, before the second leg at Hampden – Rangers' temporary home due to delayed stadium works at Ibrox – on August 13, kick-off 7.45pm, meaning neither team will play their home game at their own ground.

The winner will progress to the play-off stage, where a place in the new 36-team league format will be at stake. Rangers will hope to join Celtic at the top table with Brendan Rodgers’ side gaining automatic entry to the league phase by virtue of winning the Scottish Premiership title last season.

Should Rangers lose to Kyiv – a side littered with Ukraine internationals who also finished runners-up in their league last term – or be eliminated in the play-off round, then they have the safety net of a place in the Europa League group stages to fall back on.

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This is the fourth successive season the Ibrox side have started out in the Champions League third qualifying round. Last term, Rangers beat Servette before losing to PSV Eindhoven in the play-off – then went on to reach the round of 16 in the Europa League.

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