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Roma displayed admirable efficiency in the way the Italian side dealt with this trip to Glasgow. Minimum of fuss. The team from Rome did, nonetheless, meet favourable opposition when placing their Europa League bid back on track. There was a glaring gulf in quality between the Serie A outfit and a the Scottish team side that has now lost a team record seven continental matches consecutively.

To their credit, the home side at least huffed and puffed during a later period when surrender felt the probable option. Yet, the game was settled as a contest by then. Rangers remain anchored at the bottom of the Europa League, which should represent an disgrace to a team of such stature. Roma have ambitions once more on achieving significant success. Their only regret here was in not delivering a scoreline that truly reflected men against boys.

Amazingly, this represented only Roma’s second European joust with Scottish opposition since Fairs Cup business with Hibernian in 1961. The previous one, against the Terrors 23 years later, became overshadowed (to put it mildly) by the bribing of a referee. In those days, Scottish clubs could compete with the top sides in Europe. This season has seen the UEFA coefficient drop to a point that will shortly have huge ramifications.

Danny Röhl’s key attribute so far as the fanbase are see it is that he isn’t his predecessor. Martin’s ghastly tenure as the manager lasted just over four months in the initial phase of the campaign. The German coach, the new man at the helm, has shown promise though within a limited timeframe. The technical areas saw a generation game; the Rangers boss is 36, his counterpart Gian Piero Gasperini is 67.

Another element was far more striking as the sides lined up. Rangers’ obvious short stature against the visitors looked worrying. That concern was proven within 13 minutes as Bryan Cristante easily redirected a corner at the front post. At the back, Matías Soulé sprinted into space to knock his team ahead. The visitors without the injured their young striker and their star attacker, who have been criticised for lack of cutting edge even with reasonable results in this campaign, were pleased with their quick lead.

Rangers should have levelled matters immediately. Instead, the forward screwed his shot wide after a defensive error in the Roma defence. Chermiti’s £8m signing from Everton has increased scrutiny of the Rangers transfer hierarchy. Chermiti possesses at least the physical attributes to be an effective centre forward but appears unwilling or unable to use them.

The Italian outfit dominated opening period possession from that point. Roma doubled their lead through their captain, whose curling shot into the far post of Jack Butland’s net came after a pass from the Ukrainian forward. Rangers will bemoan the fact the midfielder was left in blissful isolation but it was a gorgeous strike. The stadium, typically a raucous place on European nights, had been quietened with time still remaining before the break. Even the boos which met the interval were subdued; Rangers were simply in the process of being outclassed.

After the break began against a unusual backdrop. Those Rangers fans directed their focus once again towards the top executive, the CEO, and sporting director, Kevin Thelwell. A pair of displays, clearly menacing in message, depicted the duo with bullseyes on their images. It raises questions what the Rangers chairman thinks about all this. After all, Andrew Cavenagh enjoyed an low-profile life as a successful businessman in the US before leading a acquisition of Rangers. Paying punters have not turned on the owner yet but there is a rebellious mood around the club. This is unsurprising; Rangers’ leadership is completely unimpressive.

Right on cue, the striker was played in on goal on the hour mark and hit the side netting. That moment sparked Rangers’ finest spell of the match, in which their replacement the young midfielder fired just wide. It was, nonetheless, difficult to determine the visitors’ continued attacking motivation until Zeki Celik was given a opportunity all of a yard out which he inexplicably lifted and on to the bottom of the bar.

That was it as far as meaningful opportunity were involved. The raft of substitutions from both teams meant this fixture closed more in the style of a summer exhibition than competitive match. This of course suited Roma perfectly. It prompted reflection to consider how on earth Rangers, finalists in this tournament in recently and strong enough of the last eight a season ago, arrived at the point of just participating.