Scottish publication The Herald has urged all soccer fans in the country to support Rangers in their return match against Dynamo Kiev in the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League, despite their club affiliations and intransigence in the domestic arena.
Photo — fcdynamo.com"Perhaps Scottish soccer fans are the most bloodthirsty in the sense that you are unlikely to find anywhere those who derive so much more pleasure from the failures of perennial rivals than from their team's success. This includes international matches.
Tens of thousands of Rangers fans will be hoping on Tuesday that their team can beat Dynamo Kiev and qualify for the Champions League playoffs. Fans of other top division clubs, not least Celtic, will be watching this match in even greater numbers and expecting Rangers to fail. It's at times like this that fans on these shores seem to enjoy gloating more, reveling in the pain and misfortune of others, rather than rejoicing in their own team's successes.
Celtic fans love to see Rangers make mistakes on the domestic stage, but it's understandable because such blunders greatly increase their own team's chances of winning a trophy. They are now acutely aware that if Rangers fail next week and miss out on a potential £40 million revenue stream (the premium for reaching the Champions League main stage), it will immeasurably increase the likelihood of Celtic continuing their dominance in Scotland.
Support for anything involving Ukraine, following the Russian invasion in 2022, is sure to reach new heights in the coming days.
However, if Celtic fans had any common sense and were capable of taking a more balanced view of the future, they would want Rangers to perform their best in the return match against Oleksandr Shovkovskiy's team and succeed. And then would wish Rangers to get an overall victory in the next round and join Celtic in the Champions League main stage.
Why should they put their club affiliations aside? Because Scotland are currently sliding into the European abyss, and the success of the country's clubs in Europe will be extremely beneficial to them both financially and reputationally in the future. "Celtic are currently looking forward to facing eight of Europe's biggest and best clubs in the Champions League. But that won't happen next season if Scotland drop to 16th in the UEFA coefficient rankings," the publication wrote.
Translation and stylistic adaptation - Dynamo.kiev.ua, when using the material hyperlink is mandatory!
