The Rangers Champions League hope pinned on Athletic Bilbao

However, while their own team may no longer be involved, Rangers fans should take a vested interest in Athletic Club's progress in the competition.
That's because if the Spanish outfit goes on to win the tournament - with the final taking place in Bilbao on Wednesday, May 21 - then Rangers will receive a much-welcomed bump up in Champions League qualifying this summer.
At the moment, the Ibrox side will enter the qualifiers via the League Path. They will enter in the second round, where they could play the likes of Servette, Brann or Austria Vienna.
Here's where the big Bilbao bonus could come in, though.
If the team that wins the Europa League ALSO qualifies for next season's Champions League directly through their domestic league placing, then due to Rangers' coefficient ranking, they would be bumped up to the Champions Path of UCL qualification.
This would see them enter a round later and would also act as a cast-iron guarantee of group stage football next season, which, as things stand, is not a given in the League Pathway.
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Should Rangers fail in the Champions League, they would drop into the Europa League play-off, and then would either progress to the league phase of that competition or drop further into the Conference League if defeated at that stage.
Athletic Bilbao are the only team left in the Europa League that could offer such a benefit to Rangers.
They sit fourth in La Liga, and are five points clear of fifth-place Villarreal, while they are nine points ahead of Real Betis in sixth.
Manchester United and Tottenham both shockingly look likely to finish just above the relegation zone in the Premier League, while Bodo/Glimt are already confirmed as being in the Champions League play-off round.

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