Rangers, the unwanted Champions League record and the 19-team group they will look to avoid

Rangers go into their Champions League clash with Napoli on Wednesday night having lost all four matches in the group stage so far.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side will require a result against the Serie A league leaders in Naples to have a realistic chance of finishing third and dropping into the Europa League. It would then need to be followed up by defeating Ajax at Ibrox next week in the final match of the group.

These two games also present Rangers with the chance of not joining an unwanted Champions League club which consists of 19 teams. As things stand last season's Europa League finalists are on course to finish with zero points, as are Czech side Viktoria Plzeň.

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Since the competition switched to 32 teams in a group stage in 1999/2000 season, there have been 20 occasions of a team finishing the six games with zero points:

01/02 - Fenerbahce For: 3 Against: 12

02/03 - Spartak Moscow F: 1 A: 18

04/05 - Anderlecht F: 4 A: 17

05/06 - Rapid Wien F: 3 A: 15

Rangers have yet to get a point in the Champions League. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)Rangers have yet to get a point in the Champions League. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)
Rangers have yet to get a point in the Champions League. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

06/07 - Levski Sofia F: 1 A: 17

07/08 - Dynamo Kyiv F: 4 A: 19

09/10 - Maccabi Haifa F: 0 A: 8

09/10 - Debrecen F: 4 A: 19

10/11 - Zilina F: 3 A: 19

10/11 - Partizan F: 2 A: 13

11/12 - Villarreal F: 2 A: 14

11/12 - Otelul Galati F: 3 A: 11

11/12 - Dinamo Zagreb F: 3 A: 22

13/14 - Marseille F: 5 A: 14

15/16 - Maccabi Tel Aviv F: 1 A: 16

16/17 - Club Brugge F: 2 A: 14

16/17 - Dinamo Zagreb F: 0 A: 15

17/18 - Benfica F: 1 A: 14

18/19 - AEK Athens F: 2 A: 13

21/22 - Besiktas F: 3 A: 19

The good news for Rangers is that they will not suffer the ignominy of having scored the fewest goals in a group stage with both Maccabi Haifa and Dinamo Zagreb having both scored zero. While the Croatian giants have also conceded the most goals across six games with 22. Rangers have shipped 16 with Napoli and Ajax up next.

However, they could finish with the worst record at this stage. Dinamo Zagreb posted the worst goal difference of -19. Rangers currently sit at -15.

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