Rangers, Hibs and Dundee Utd discover European opponents

In the second round of Champions League qualifying, Rangers and Panathinaikos were faced.

The winners of the first-round matchup between Linfield, the champion of Northern Ireland, and Shelbourne, the Republic of Ireland, will face Azerbaijan’s Qarabag.

The New Saints, the Welsh champions, will face FCSB of Romania or Inter Club d’Escaldes of Andorra if they beat Shkendija of North Maceonia in a tie.

In their respective domestic leagues, all three potential opponents were runners-up, just like Rangers, but Swiss Servette are 139th (one place behind Heart of Midlothian) and Norwegian Brann is 189th, while the Greek side is 111th in the European club rankings, just 86 places behind Rangers.

After capturing AEK Athens after the division split, the side led by former Egypt and Benfica head coach Rui Vitoria finished 16 points behind Olympiakos in the Greek Super League last year.

In four meetings with Rangers, two with Motherwell, and one with Aberdeen, the Panathinaikos have won four of their seven games and never lost to Scottish foes over 90 minutes.

Rangers, however, made progress when they last faced the Ibrox side.

After drawing 1-1 at home in Athens in the round of 32 following a 0-0 draw in Glasgow, the Greeks lost on away goals after defeating Aberdeen 3-0 at home in the 2007-08 Uefa Cup group stage.

In their most recent encounter with a Scottish side in 2012, they defeated Rangers 3-1 at Ibrox and draw 1-1 at home in the Champions League group stage. They also defeated Motherwell 5-0 on aggregate in their most recent encounter in the Champions League third qualifying round.

Since 2010-11, the Panathinaikos haven’t qualified for the Champions League properly, and their last season started with a win over Botev Plovdiv before falling to Ajax to advance to Conference League by defeating Lens.

They finished 13th overall, defeated Vikingur Reykjavik in the knockout phase, lost to Fiorentina in the final 16, and lost 4-1 at home to eventual champions Chelsea.

Under Philippe Clement’s leadership last season, Rangers lost their opening Champions League qualifier to Dynamo Kyiv. By the time interim head coach Barry Ferguson was in charge, Rangers had already advanced to the Europa League quarter-finals.

David Gray’s side kicks off the Europa League campaign this season with a third-place finish in the Premiership on July 24 when the Danes travel to Leith for the second leg.

Hibs avoided Belgium’s Anderlecht and the winners of ties between Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova and Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine against Ilves Tampere in a match against Prishtina of Kosovo, who were unseeded in Wednesday’s draw.

Midtjylland, led by Thomas Thomasberg, finished 20th in the Europa League league before falling to Real Sociedad in the knock-out stage play-offs.

After falling 5-0 on aggregate to Finnish side Kuopion Palloseura in the Conference League first qualifying round last year, Arno Bonvini’s side, who finished second overall in the Luxembourg, will only be playing in their second-ever European tie.

In the event that St. Joseph’s of Gibraltar defeat Cliftonville to face Shamrock Rovers in the first qualifying round, there might be a north-south match-up.

Northern Irish rivals Dungannon and Larne or Auda of Latvia will face off against Prishtina of Kosovo or Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova in their first match.

If Haverfordwest County defeats Kauno Zalgiris of Lithuania, they will face Ballkani of Kosovo, while Welsh rivals Penybont will face Valur of Iceland or Flora Tallinn of Estonia in an encounter.

Should St. Patrick’s Athletic defeat Hegelmann from Lithuania, they will face Nomme Kalju of Estonia or Partizani of Albania.

Who will face Zalgiris of Lithuania or Hamrun Spartans of Malta in the Champions League match between Shelbourne and Linfield?