Why Rangers 2008 UEFA Cup finalist rejects fears of current European progress impacting club's title chances

Rangers could have a possible disadvantage as they seek to chase down Celtic in the Premiership across the second half of the season - success.

Kirk Broadfoot offers a "never say never" over his old club Rangers reaching a third European final in 18 years as he believes Philippe Clement's men could land a domestic treble. (Photo by Bill Murray/SNS Group).

The Ibrox club face a draining two-month spell when the campaign resumes following the winter shutdown. In catching up on two outstanding league fixtures, their two Europa League 16 ties will ensure they will contest four more fixtures than their title rivals - and 15 in total - in the eight weeks between the late January restart and the March international window…assuming they negotiate two rounds of the Scottish Cup. Continental progress - however exhilarating proved the 3-2 win over Real Betis in Seville for Philippe Clement’s side - might be considered a mixed blessing, then.

It would be understandable were Kirk Broadfoot to read it that way. The now Morton defender was a member of the Rangers team that reached the 2008 UEFA final. A run that created a domestic fixture pile-up central in Celtic being able to pip Walter Smith’s men to the title. Fast forward to 2022 and Rangers again made it to a European final - only to lose the league by four points to their ancient adversaries. Four points, co-incidentally, dribbled away in the Premiership either side of their spectacular slaying of Borussia Dotmund. Broadfoot maintains there is no way that the club’s Europa League excursions come early March sould be regarded as an unwelcome inconvenience.

“At teams like Rangers and Celtic, you’ve got to be looking to fight on all fronts – Europe included,” said the 39-year-old. “Rangers have a big enough squad to cope with the demands. I think the fans also demand it. I’m sure the players want to be fighting on all fronts too. You never want to say ‘let’s go out of Europe so we can concentrate on the league’. But it’s already a good European run. To win that group and miss that play-off round was fantastic.”

Even as Broadfoot is confident Clement is the “right man” for Rangers - possessing an aura, authority and nous that leads him to see “no reason” why he couldn’t add the Premiership and Scottish Cup to his League Cup success for a treble - a third European final in the space of 18 years for his old club could be a stretch. The calibre of latter stage opponent appears frightening, AC Milan, Benfica or Galatasaray looking to come through the play-off round while Liverpool, West Ham and Brighton, like Rangers, already have booked their last 16 berths.

“It will be a tough ask, there’s no getting away from that,” said Broadfoot. “You just look at some of the teams they could face in the next round. Back in our day, we played Fiorentina in the semis and in the other was between Bayern Munich and Zenit St Petersburg, who obviously went on to win it. If anything, it’s become harder, but you can never say never. It’s happened twice in recent times so it’s clearly possible. A wee bit of luck in the draw always helps. They beat Borussia Dortmund when they got to the final a couple of years ago and you would have probably have said they were the favourites to win it outright. They are in a habit of winning knockout ties after Christmas and it’s a good habit to be in.”