How Alashkert rose from the ashes to earn dream Europa League date with Rangers

The defeat to Malmo that ended their Champions League dreams has come at a cost financially and the challenge now is to limit the damage by embarking on another prolonged run in the competition that has given Steven Gerrard some of his most important and exciting moments as manager.

Gerrard’s side are no strangers to these qualifying round ties and the challenge of Alashkert is one which Rangers are expected to overcome relatively comfortably.

The Armenian media production @FootballKentron is the only English-speaking Podcast covering the VBET Premier League.

Here, Herald and Times Sport speaks to Aram Basmajian of Football Kentron to get the lowdown on what Rangers can expect ahead from Aleksandr Grigoryan’s side as the champions set their sights on the group stages once again.

What can you tell me about Alashkert’s recent history? The club was formed in 2011. How difficult has the last ten years been for Alashkert?

The club was founded by descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors from the city of Alashkert, now called Eleskirt by the Turks, after having escaped the massacres and relocated in a relatively small town in today's Republic of Armenia called Martuni.

That may explain why it was so unsuccessful at the beginning. Their first decade, much like Armenia as a whole during the 1990s transition back into sovereignty, was so shaky that they were on and off alternating between professional and amateur football. After 10 years of not being able to stay afoot, the club dissolved in the change of century.

Finally, in 2011, a businessman native of Martuni with heritage from the city of Alashkert, now in the Republic of Turkey, Bagrat Navoyan, bought the rights for the whole club and rebuilt it from scratch.

Navoyan is the chairman of Bagratour, one of the most prominent tour agencies in Armenia, with close ties to Armenian football. With that new financial pump and systemic backing and organization, Alashkert quickly became a national powerhouse.

Rangers have endured their own difficult times during the last ten years. Are there any similarities in the way the clubs have come back to the top of their respective divisions?

There could be similarities, especially after both clubs endured pretty turbulent times of different natures and are now among the two or three most successful clubs within their countries. But their situations are pretty different.

Whilst Rangers is one of the oldest and most traditional clubs in the world, that won basically every single trophy there is since the beginning of the organised sport, Alashkert is pretty new and only recently started actually winning titles.

Besides, the whole system - socioeconomically so, specially - in the UK varies greatly from Armenia, a post- Soviet country with an ancient but unique culture, that is trying to find itself again after almost a century of being cut from the western world or anything other than the communist block.

Last but not least, the reach Rangers as a club has is bigger than Alashkert, which is not even one of the most traditional clubs in the country, albeit one of the most successful in recent times.

Was it a shock for Alashkert to overcome Kairat Almaty and reach this stage of the Europa League? How did those two fixtures unfold?

One could say it was a shock that Alashkert beat Kairat, especially considering a few key aspects. In 2015, Alashkert actually beat and dominated Kairat at home as well, but got thrashed 0-3 away in Almaty and, in our opinion, 2015 Alashkert was stronger than today's Alashkert. But life is hardly ever that simple, and luck would have it that this time our lads made it through.

Coincidentally, in the 2015 campaign, Alashkert had to beat another Scottish side to face Kairat - St Johnstone. The other issue that made it surprising for us when the team beat Kairat last week was how poor the team looked in the previous rounds, and in defence especially.

In retrospect, we would've thought our chances of making it through against Kairat were 30/70 in favour of the Kazakhs. Now we'd reckon our chances to be of around 10/90 in favour of Rangers.

Can you give an insight into the manager? What is his style as a coach?

Alexander Grigoryan is by no means an orthodox man, or someone who suits people's expectations. He has a mind of his own, and his teams work accordingly.

Provided that he's new at the helm of the club, his unorthodox style, bold personality and vast experience got him the unexpected win against Kairat, and before that a not too shabby result against Sheriff, a regional giant of Eastern Europe.

He likes to assess his opposition and play his game accordingly. And he's also one of those coaches that knows the value of a good psychological pre-game.

What are their strengths and weaknesses and who are the key players in the team? Is there anyone you think could earn a move to a bigger European league?

Alashkert has one clear weakness and that's the defensive line. It was simply woeful last season, and that is still the case now. Their strength could be relentlessness - now accentuated by their coach.

They're a team that doesn't give in easily and will look for opportunities in whatever way they can capitalise, no matter the moment in the game. Their problem is the same as their strength - they can concede easily when dominating, as well as score easily when dominated.

In regards to transitioning to bigger leagues, that 2015 campaign we mentioned saw one of the team's star strikers, Heber Araujo move on to Croatia to play Europa League and eventually to become American MLS goal scorer with Patrick Vieira's New York City FC.

One of the only players we believe could aim for a career abroad is Grigor Aghekyan, the youngest regular feature, who's a substitute that can fill in for any spot in the attacking area.

However, he does have eight games to show his potential, if not against Rangers, he will surely have more accessible games during the group stages to seize his opportunities.

What is the likely formation from Alashkert? Do they play an attacking style of football or do you expect them to be defensive in this tie?

Alashkert are used to playing a 4-3-3 with as many people covering the middle of the park as possible, because if the ball gets through, then it's most likely they will concede.

In offence they have all sorts of players with different skillsets to deliver for the team. Arguably a good point for this team is that all of their regular players are over 24 years old, seasoned and with plenty of experience in European football.

Very shaky in defence, but still dangerous to any team on a good day. Considering both team's strengths and weaknesses, Rangers will most likely score more than two goals in each game.

The thing is, Alashkert will probably either score just as many goals or they'll have the most frustrating time and fail to convert sitters.

How important a tie is this for Armenian football? It would be a huge result for them to beat Rangers and what would it mean for the standing of the Armenian game?

First things first, this tie is unequivocally an honour for Armenian football as a whole. Having the one and only Steven Gerrard step in Armenia and bring his legacy all to our little home is something that doesn't happen often for us.

Now, of course it would be massive to beat Rangers, naturally. But on the one hand, it's not the first Scottish team Alashkert have beaten, and then there's the consolation of having secured Conference League group stages in case of the most likely defeat against Rangers.

Not to mention that us at FootballKentron have no doubts that Alashkert is not the strongest side in Armenian football today (they're not even the best Alashkert to have played European playoffs), and they're only paving the way for better teams in the future not to have that first time jitters.

All these things considered, we do hope that the team, coaching staff and fans take this tie as something to enjoy seeing it could well be an opportunity of a lifetime for many. Most of the players are over 26 years old, will play at Ibrox, against Steven Gerrard, and have six secured European games ahead of them afterwards. That's happiness.

Rangers are now playing in front of crowds of 50,000 at Ibrox once again. Will that inspire the Alashkert players or be an important factor for Rangers?

Seeing most of our lads are quite experienced, we don't think that's a detractor for them. Definitely a motivation.

Plus, Alashkert loves providing a good Cinderella story. It would definitely not be the first time they've pulled one. And surely wouldn't be the last.

What is the Alashkert Stadium like? Do Alashkert have good form at home?

They play in this cosy little amphitheatre-like stadium of barely 7,000 seats. However, seeing that Nairi Stadium is under construction, they've been playing their dues in the Republican Stadium, where the National Team plays at home.

It's of around 15,000 seats and has all commodities of a decent Europa League round of 16 stadium, but built in classical style and with the ancient pink-ish volcanic stone called tuff, ever present throughout the Armenian Highlands. It's the place we at FK call home.

Is there anything else you would like to mention? Or anything else Rangers fans should know ahead of the tie?

Well, there's only one player left from the time that dangerous Alashkert beat St Johnstone back in 2015 - and that's our beloved lion of the midfield Artak Grigoryan.

However, much closer, in 2018, a pretty weak Alashkert faced and got demolished by Celtic 0-6 on aggregate (0-3 in each game). During the latter, both the goalkeeper, Ognjen Cancarevic, and one of the centre backs, Taron Voskanyan were present.

Both of them are quite familiar with making amateur mistakes, so that's very easily how Rangers could capitalise throughout both games. So, expect a lot of goals by the Rangers.

Hopefully for us, we will also be celebrating a couple screamers from our boys, too. Either way, it's going to be very exciting to see our lion of the midfield at Ibrox! A signature moment for a prolific career.