Sparta Prague boss Pavel Vrba believes his side, Rangers and Brondby will be battling it out for second place in their Europa League group.
The competition proper gets under way on Thursday, with Steven Gerrard 's side welcoming the Ligue 1 giants to Ibrox for the curtain raiser.
At the same time Sparta travel to Brondby, and their coach believes the Czechs cannot afford any dropped points as he insists three teams are fighting for one spot.
Vrba said: "Brondby are not at their absolute best right now, I wonder what they'll come up with.
"We saw their quality in the match against Midtjylland, they won 2-0 and were consistent, patient and organised. I'm expecting a similar match from them on Thursday.
"We've been drawn against some really strong opponents.
"There's a clear favourite for the group and that's Lyon, then there are three teams, including Rangers, who will fight for the second place.
"Anything we drop now will cost us by the end, so we want to pick up points wherever we can."
Sparta played Celtic in the Europa League last season, beating them 4-1 twice under Vrba's predecessor Vaclav Kotal.
