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Roma displayed impressive effectiveness about the way Roma dealt with this journey to Scotland. Without much drama. Roma from Italy’s capital did, nonetheless, meet favourable opposition when placing their European competition bid on the right path. There was a glaring difference in class between the Serie A outfit and a Rangers squad that has now suffered defeat in a club record seven European games in a row.

Positively, the home side at least huffed and puffed during a later period when surrender felt the more likely option. Yet, the match was decided as a competition by then. The Scottish club remain rooted to the bottom of the tournament, which should constitute an disgrace to a club of such stature. The Giallorossi have ambitions once more on achieving significant success. Their only regret in this match was in not producing a result that truly reflected the mismatch in quality.

Surprisingly, this marked only the Roman club’s second continental encounter with a team from Scotland since Fairs Cup business with Hibernian in the early 60s. Their last such match, against Dundee United over two decades later, became overshadowed (to put it politely) by the corruption of a match official. Back then, teams from Scotland could compete with the best in the continent. The current campaign has seen the co-efficient plunge to a point that will soon have major ramifications.

The new manager’s main quality up to now as the fanbase are concerned is that he isn’t his predecessor. Martin’s ghastly spell as the manager lasted just over four months in the early part of this season. Röhl, the new man at the helm, has shown promise albeit within a tiny sample size. The dugouts saw a generation game; Röhl is thirty-six, his counterpart the Roma manager is sixty-seven.

Another element was far more striking as the teams took the field. Rangers’ glaring short stature against the visitors looked worrying. This point was confirmed within 13 minutes as Bryan Cristante comfortably flicked on a set-piece at the near post. At the back, Matías Soulé burst forward to knock his team ahead. The visitors minus the unavailable Evan Ferguson and their star attacker, who have been criticised for lack of cutting edge despite decent results in this campaign, were delighted with their early advantage.

The Ibrox side should have levelled matters instantly. Rather, the forward screwed his shot wide after a defensive error in the Roma defence. Chermiti’s eight-million-pound purchase from the Toffees has piled pressure on the club’s recruitment team. Chermiti possesses at least the physique to be an effective striker but appears unwilling or unable to use them.

Roma controlled first-half the ball thereafter. Roma doubled their lead through Lorenzo Pellegrini, whose curling shot into the far post of the goalkeeper’s net came after a lay off from the Ukrainian forward. Rangers will bemoan the fact Pellegrini stood in blissful isolation but it was a superb finish. The stadium, typically a raucous place on continental evenings, had been quietened nine minutes until halftime. Even the boos which met the half-time whistle were subdued; Rangers were clearly in the midst of being outclassed.

The second period started against a unusual backdrop. Supporters turned their attentions once again towards the top executive, the CEO, and sporting director, the director. A pair of displays, clearly menacing in message, showed the duo with bullseyes on their images. One wonders what the club owner thinks about all this. Ultimately, Andrew Cavenagh enjoyed an anonymous career as a successful businessman in the US before leading a acquisition of this club. Paying punters have not targeted Cavenagh yet but there is a rebellious mood around the club. It is one which is unsurprising; Rangers’ leadership is wholly unimpressive.

As if scripted, Chermiti was played in on goal on the 60-minute mark and hit the outside of the goal. That moment sparked the home side’s best period of the game, in which their replacement the young midfielder fired just wide. It was, however, hard to gauge Roma’s continued offensive intent until Zeki Celik was given a opportunity all of a yard out which he somehow lifted and on to the bottom of the bar.

That was it as far as clear-cut opportunity were concerned. The raft of substitutions from each side meant this game closed more in the style of a summer exhibition than competitive match. That scenario benefited the Italians fine. There was cause to consider how on earth Rangers, runners-up in this tournament in 2022 and strong enough of the quarter-finals a last year, reached the stage of making up the numbers.