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
Supporters of the Light Blues will travel to Lisbon as usual, but this development may make it more difficult or perhaps impossible for some.
It will be disappointing for those who would have anticipated to be on an official club flight because the game is less than two weeks away, and there isn’t much time to make other arrangements.
Rangers’ remarkable 3-2 victory over Real Betis on December 14 on the road helped the Belgian-led team top the group, earning Philippe Clement’s team a bye into the competition’s play-off stage.
They will face the team atop the Portuguese league table in a challenging match during the knockout stages.
Therefore, the manager must get his team to approach the task in a manner akin to how they handled the visit of in-form Hearts at the weekend, where they steamrolled any threat en route to a 5-0 victory, if he hopes to replicate Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s historic run to the final two seasons ago.
