How Rangers' automatic Champions League carrot could be gone

It would take quite a sensational set of circumstances for this to happen, but nevertheless, it is possible.

We already know that Scotland has dropped outside of UEFA's top ten in the coefficient rankings. The Scots are now 11th, with the Czech Republic taking tenth spot.

This means that the winners of the Premiership next season will not automatically qualify for the Champions League proper, unlike Celtic over the previous few seasons.

With that said, if Rangers were to win the Scottish title next season, they could still gain an automatic spot in the Champions League due to their impressive individual club coefficient score. This would not apply to Celtic, as their score is poorer.

However, that all hinges on the 2024 Champions League winners already qualifying for the following season's competition through their league position.

As things stand, Rangers would then take the spare spot which would go to the top-ranked champions involved in the qualifiers.

Although, should Borussia Dortmund fail to get their act together in the Bundesliga, then it could put paid to this idea.

The Germans pulled off a thrilling 5-4 aggregate win over Atletico Madrid last night to set up a semi-final clash in the Champions League with PSG.

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Despite being just two games away from the final of UEFA's top club competition at Wembley, they sit fifth in Germany's top flight.

Their rivals RB Leipzig are only ahead in fourth spot on goal difference, so it is close with just five games remaining of the league season.

But should Dortmund pull off a huge shock by winning the Champions League, while finishing the season where they are currently, then they would take that aforementioned spare Champions League spot from Rangers. 

It would then mean Rangers facing qualifiers despite their coefficient ranking, should they of course be crowned Premiership champions.