Shakhtar now face a mountain to climb if they want to catch Rangers in the fight to guarantee Champions League qualification
Crystal Palace celebrate in Krakow(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
Crystal Palace blew Shakhtar Donetsk away with a 3-1 win in Poland – and handed Rangers a huge boost in their battle to guarantee a £30m Champions League payday.
The Ibrox side are in contention to qualify directly for next season’s tournament should they win the Premiership this term.
The governing body will hand direct entry to the highest-ranked domestic champion whose country coefficient doesn’t qualify them automatically. At the minute, that’s between Rangers, Shakhtar Donetsk and Olympiacos should the trio all win their domestic divisions.
The latter have fallen behind in the Greek title race so unless there’s a dramatic turnaround there, it’s a straight race to the finish line between Gers and Shakhtar.
Defeat to Motherwell at the weekend leaves Danny Rohl’s men with no more room for error on that front, while Shakhtar are eight points clear domestically and all-but set to win the title..
In the coefficient table though, Shakhtar are the chasers went into tonight’s Conference League semi-final first leg with Crystal Palace on 56.25 – three points behind Rangers who sit on 59.25.
Wins earn two points and draws earn one, so a victory would have been enough to cut the gap to one point – with a maximum of two games left to play.
But they didn’t manage to get it as Palace took a big step towards making next month’s final.
The first leg, played in Poland due to UEFA requiring Ukrainian teams to play their ‘home’ games at neutral grounds, saw Shakhtar go behind before a minute was even on the clock, Ismaila Sarr netting a rapid-fire opener for the Premier League side.
The Ukrainians fought back and equalised shortly after half-time through Oleg Ocherenko.
But Daichi Kamada struck again for Palace before Jorgen Strand Larsen added a third late on – and anything other than a thumping defeat next week will send them into the final against Rayo Vallecano or Strasbourg.
What does it mean for Rangers?
The defeat means nothing has changed on the coefficient front. Shakhtar still sit three coefficient points behind the Ibrox side.
Next week in London, there are 2.5 points up for grabs; two for a victory within 120 minutes, and a bonus 0.5 for making the final.
Should Shakhtar overturn it, and make the final, then, they would sit on 58.75 – half a point behind Rangers.
It would then come down to how the Ukrainians get on in the final. If they lose that, they’re out of the running; if they win, they overtake them at the last possible opportunity.
Of course, it only carries meaning for Rangers should they come out on top in the Premiership. Defeat to Motherwell at the weekend leaves them four points behind leaders Hearts and a point behind Celtic, and find themselves away to their rivals in their next two matches.
Monday’s clash at Tynecastle and the May 10 Old Firm derby at Parkhead, then, hold even more weight to the club with the increasing likelihood of guaranteed Champions League entry on the line.