Rangers take on Slavia Prague in Europa League last 16

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Rangers player celebrate v AntwerpImage source, SNS
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Rangers made through to the Europa League last-16 stage for successive seasons after a 9-5 aggregate win over Royal Antwerp

Rangers have been drawn against Slavia Prague in the last 16 of the Europa League.

The Czech league leaders will be at home for the first leg on 11 March, with the return at Ibrox a week later.

Steven Gerrard's side reached this stage of the tournament for the second year running with a 9-5 aggregate success against Royal Antwerp.

Slavia produced one of the shocks of the last-32, winning 2-0 at Leicester City after a 0-0 draw at home.

Managed by Jindrich Trpisovsky, they are currently eight points clear of city rivals Sparta after 20 First League games.

Slavia finished second behind Bayer Leverkusen, who knocked Rangers out in the last-16 of last season's tournament, in their qualifying group, well ahead of Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Nice.

The runaway Scottish Premiership leaders, unbeaten in the tournament, finished top of their section in front of Benfica.

Rangers have never faced Slavia Prague previously and have only played one other side from the Czech Republic since it was established. In 2002, they were knocked out of the first round of the Uefa Cup by Viktoria Zizkov on away goals despite winning 3-1 at Ibrox, having lost the first leg 2-0.

They also lost on away goals to Sparta Prague, then representing Czechoslovakia, in the first round of the European Cup in 1991 and were beaten by Dukla Prague in the first round of the European Cup-winners' Cup 10 years earlier.

Sparta were in Celtic's Europa League group this season and, although neither team progressed, they did enjoy two 4-1 wins over Rangers' Old Firm rivals.

What is progress worth to Rangers?

Since reaching the group stage, Rangers have accumulated more than £4.5m in European prize money.

More than £3m of that was secured through earning enough points to finish top of their group. A further £430,000 was pocketed for making to the last-32, with another £950,000 coming for reaching the last-16 again.

With the Ibrox club needing fresh investment of £23.2m by the end of next season, any additional revenue will be gratefully received.

And what about the co-efficient?

Rangers' 5-2 win over Antwerp on Thursday means Scotland still sit 11th in Uefa's rankings, a spot that would likely earn a direct place in the 2022-23 Champions League group stage for next season's Premiership winners.

However, Ukraine are right behind Scotland in a tight race for that coveted position and have two teams still standing.

Dinamo Kiev take on Villarreal, while Shakhtar Donetsk are up against Roma.

'Clinical' Slavia cannot be taken lightly - analysis

Former Rangers midfielder Alex Rae

There were bigger ties out there, but I don't think you take this lightly. Czech football has to be admired and respected, just look at what Sparta did to Celtic over their two games.

Slavia were clinical in their win at Leicester, they are a very good team.

But Rangers have made terrific strides and Steven Gerrard has been brilliant at implementing different game plans in Europe.

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