The Europa League meeting between Rangers and the Bulgarian champions Ludogorets on Thursday may be no more than a dead rubber as far as the hosts are concerned, but the same cannot be said for the visitors, who are aiming to make the knockout phase of the competition for the first time in six years.
Wins over Malmo and Celta Vigo were added to last time out by a point against PAOK, meaning a victory over Rangers will seal their place in the play-offs with a game to spare.
Clearly Danny Rohl’s side will have other ideas and this does represent a decent chance for them to chalk up their first win of the campaign.
Ludogorets come to Scotland for the first time hoping to heap further European misery on the Rangers supporters, knowing they still have a home game against bottom side Nice to come next week.
The Ludogorets story is a remarkable one. For 60 years the club floated around the lower tiers of Bulgarian football, with mergers and money troubles eventually leading to liquidation in 2005.
Four years later, with the history of the club having been bought up, Ludogorets re-emerged, no doubt to the consternation of many debating how this could be the same club.
Regardless, they were about to embark upon a period of unbridled domestic success.
After further investment, Ludogorets won promotion to the top division in 2011 and incredibly have won all 14 league titles since.
However, they find themselves third currently, seven points behind Levski Sofia, which is why they recently hired former Hearts managerial target Per-Mathias Hogmo to replace the sacked Portuguese Rui Mota to try to ensure there is no changing of the guard this season in Bulgarian football.
Hogmo is unbeaten since taking over in November but Ludogorets have not played a competitive match since 19 December because of the winter break in Bulgaria, so may be slightly undercooked coming to Ibrox, though equally could be recharged and ready for the challenge that awaits them.
The Serbian Petar Stanic looks like their star man. Able to play in midfield or up front, six of his 10 goals this season have come in the Europa League, including all three in the win over Celta Vigo, making him the competition’s top scorer so far this season.
Curiously, their other main source of goals, Ivaylo Chochev, is yet to start in the Europa League, coming on in each of the six games, scoring in the last game against PAOK. He has 14 for the season all told, though, and Rangers will also need to be wary of him should he start at Ibrox.
While they score plenty, they are also prone to conceding. In fact their games in the competition have been the highest scoring of all teams, so spectators could be in for a treat at Ibrox on Thursday.
