Bidding farewell to European football in late January must all feel rather surreal for Rangers supporters. After all, they’ve become well-accustomed to watching their side feature in the latter stages of the Europa League in recent years.
Dead rubbers, such as this one, have been few and far between.
For too long, such runs on the continental stage have provided a much-needed tonic to repeated disappointment on the home front.
Perhaps this is the season when Rangers flip the script. While famous European nights have ensured there will be no shortage of tales to tell the grandkids, you can bet that the majority of fans would have gladly signed up for being dumped out of this year’s competition early doors in exchange for a shot at lifting the Premiership trophy aloft come May.
And under Danny Rohl, they have a real chance of doing exactly that. Which is why this defeat at the hands of Porto to round off this most dismal of European campaigns means very little in the grand scheme of things.
The damage was done long before now, of course, courtesy of meek losses against Genk, Sturm Graz, SK Brann, Roma and Ferencvaros.
A win against Ludogorets last week – their first in the competition this season – wasn’t enough to ensure that there was anything to play for other than pride against the Portuguese league leaders, who took full advantage of some comical defending to book their place in the last 16 with plenty to spare.
It wasn’t as if they needed any help either. While they may no longer be considered European heavyweights, Francisco Farioli has built a highly efficient team that will fancy their chances of going all the way in this tournament for the first time in 15 years.
They came into this one having won 11 of their previous 12 fixtures, and once they did get their noses in front, there was only ever going to be one winner.
That being said, it was Rangers who made a brighter start, and silenced the majority of those inside the Estadio do Dragao within six minutes.
Findlay Curtis picked up the ball on the right-hand side, before delivering a wonderful cross on to the head of Djeidi Gassama at the back post.
His effort into the ground lacked power, but was accurate enough to find the bottom corner beyond the wrong-footed Diogo Costa in the Porto goal.
The winger has reportedly been attracting the attention of French outfit Monaco, who were rumoured to have had an eight-figure bid rejected earlier this week. It seems like crazy money to turn down considering he only joined the club during the summer for an altogether more modest fee.
He is guilty of blowing hot and cold, but in fairness, he does tend to show up in the big games. This was his sixth goal in Europe this season, and Rohl evidently believes he’s a man to be counted on over the coming months.
The manager couldn’t have asked for a better opening quarter. His side were assured, and restricted the hosts to nothing more than a few speculative strikes from range.
But the visitors’ good work was undone on the 28-minute mark courtesy of teen sensation Rodrigo Mora. The 18-year-old left Nico Raskin on his backside in midfield, before releasing William Gomes on the right angle of the box.
Jayden Meghoma did well initially to get back and put in a challenge just as the wide man was about to pull the trigger, but in doing so, played it straight to Mora who fired home on the turn from close range.
With their tails up, Porto chased a quick second, with Pepe leaving Tavernier in the rearview mirror moments later as he bore down on goal. The recovery tackle from Emmanuel Fernandez just in the nick of time was outstanding.
The defending which resulted in Porto’s second of the evening, however, was shambolic.
A long ball over the top simply wasn’t dealt with by Tavernier, who then collided with keeper Jack Butland in the six-yard box, leaving Francisco Moura with the simplest of tap-ins.
Had Rangers managed to get to the break 2-1 down, there would have been legitimate reason to believe a positive result was still achievable.
Porto’s third shortly before the interval all but killed off any hope. And again, it was completely avoidable, with Fernandez heading into his own net from a corner under pressure from Jan Bednarek.
Bednarek came to the rescue early in the second period, getting in front of Curtis to turn a driven Max Aarons cross behind.
What followed over the next half hour was more akin to a training match than any kind of competitive affair.
Rangers, to their credit, were better. But that was more down to Porto’s reluctance to press than anything else. You never got the feeling they were in much danger, with Rangers just lacking the quality to make any real inroads in the final third.
Youssef Chermiti has taken enough flak from the Ibrox punters to last a lifetime, but in truth, he was left isolated with no service to work with. His hold-up play at times was decent, but he barely got a kick inside the danger area. That’s been the story of his Rangers career thus far.
Fenerbahce were linked with a move to bring the former Sporting striker to Turkey. If Rangers can get shot of him, they should. For whatever reason, it’s just not worked out.
A new front man should be the priority for Rohl before the transfer window closes next week. But we knew that already.
Whether anyone arrives before Sunday’s trip to Easter Road remains to be seen. You would suspect that will come too soon.
While Rangers’ eight-match winning run may have come to an end in Portugal, there shouldn’t be any hangover. In terms of mentality, this is a very different team from the one which began this European campaign back in mid-July.
Their attention now turns to reining in Hearts at the top of the Premiership table. And perhaps a lack of European action to deal with over the coming months could turn out to be a blessing.
