The Rangers Supporter Liaison Office has announced that there won’t be an official club flight to the away leg of the Europa League match against Benfica.
On March 7, the Light Blues take on the Portuguese powerhouses at the Estadio de Luz. However, on February 26, the team said on Twitter that, following negotiations with their travel partner, it would be too costly for supporters to accompany them due to a shortage of “aircraft availability.”
The news that the kickoff time for the home leg at Ibrox the next week has been altered to 5.45 p.m. has already disappointed the club [BBC Sport, 23 February].
Ranger SLO stated: “It has been established that an official club flight for Benfica away is regrettably not viable after speaking with our travel partner.
“This is because there are no aircraft available, which would have an unjustified financial impact on supporters.”
No official Rangers supporter flight to Portugal for Benfica first leg
Light Blues supporters will find their way to Lisbon as they always do but this development will make it harder for some, and potentially impossible for others.
With the game less than a fortnight away it is going to be a disappointment to those who would have expected to be on an official club flight, and doesn’t leave a lot of time for alternative arrangements to be made.
Philippe Clement’s side got a bye through the play-off round of the competition after the Belgian’s revival of the club saw Rangers top the group with an excellent 3-2 away win against Real Betis on 14 December.
They have been handed a tough assignment in the knock-out stages against the side currently top of the Portuguese league table.
So if the manager has designs on emulating Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s memorable run to the final two seasons ago he will need to get his side to respond to the challenge in a similar way to how they tackled the visit of in-form Hearts at the weekend, where any threat was steamrolled on the way to a 5-0 win
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton has issued a Gers claim with Brendan Rodgers “under the pump” amid a new controversy..
