In the Champions League's second qualifying round, Rangers will face Panathinaikos. The winners of the first-round tie between Northern Ireland champions Linfield and Republic of Ireland counterparts Shelbourne will face Qarabag of Azerbaijan.
The New Saints, the reigning Welsh champions, will play either FCSB of Romania or Inter Club d'Escaldes of Andorra if they win their match against Shkendija of North Maceonia. In the meantime, in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, Hibernian will play Midtjylland of Denmark, Dundee United will play UNA Strassen of Luxembourg, and Dungannon Swifts will play Vaduz of Liechtenstein in the Conference League.
Greeks with the highest ranking drawn with Rangers Russell Martin's first competitive games as Rangers head coach will be against Panathinaikos on July 22 and again the following week. Despite the Ibrox team being seeded, Martin has been given the toughest possible draw. All three potential opponents were, like Rangers, runners-up in their domestic leagues, but while the Greek side are 111th in the European club rankings, 86 places behind Rangers, Swiss side Servette are 139th (one behind Heart of Midlothian) and Norwegians Brann 189th.
Rui Vitoria's team, which overtook AEK Athens following the league split, finished 16 points behind Olympiakos in the Greek Super League in the previous season. Panathinaikos have won four of their seven meetings with Rangers, two with Motherwell, and one with Aberdeen, and have never lost to Scottish opponents for more than 90 minutes. Rangers, on the other hand, advanced when they last met the Ibrox team. Having beaten Aberdeen 3-0 at home in the 2007-08 Uefa Cup group stage, the Greeks exited on away goals after a 0-0 stalemate in Glasgow was followed by a 1-1 draw in Athens in the round of 32.
In the Champions League group stage in 2003, they beat Rangers 3-1 at Ibrox and drew 1-1 at home. In 2012, in the Champions League third qualifying round, they beat Motherwell 5-0 overall in their most recent encounter with a Scottish team. Panathinaikos have not reached the Champions League proper since 2010-11 and last season started in Europa League qualifying, beating Botev Plovdiv but losing to Ajax before qualifying for the Conference League by defeating Lens.
In the new league, they finished 13th after losing to Chelsea 4-1 at home and beating The New Saints 2-0 in Wales. In the knockout stage, they beat Vikingur Reykjavik and lost to Fiorentina. Rangers lost their opening Champions League qualifier to Dynamo Kyiv last season under Philippe Clement but reached the Europa League quarter-finals, by which time interim head coach Barry Ferguson was in charge.
To advance to the league stage, teams that tie in the second qualifying round must win two more rounds. D faces Hibs.
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