Rangers' 2-0 win over Brondby provided another timely boost to the UEFA coefficient as Scotland tightened the grip on ninth place.
Thanks to Celtic's win over Ferencvaros the Premiership had leapfrogged Russia in the rankings and was closing the gap on Austria.
That and holding off Ukraine in 11th is crucial as each of the top 10 nations by coefficient gets one automatic entry into the Champions League group stage.
The Premiership finished last season in 11th place, meaning this season's champions will almost certainly qualify for the groups.
As long as the winner of the Champions League has also qualified for the competition via their domestic league, the place will go to Scotland's champions.
If Celtic and Rangers can pick up enough points to end the season in the top 10 though, next season's champions will be 100 per cent guaranteed a place.
Steven Gerrard's side did their bit on Thursday night by taking their first win in Europa League Group A.
UEFA awards two points for a win, but when it comes to the country ranking that is divided by the number of teams entered into European competition at the beginning of the season.
This season Scotland entered five, so each win is worth 0.4 points to the coefficient.
Wins for both of our two remaining representatives were crucial this week, as it allowed the Premiership to increase the gap on the Russian Premier League.
Zenit St Petersburg lost to Juventus in the Champions League, Spartak Moscow were beaten by Leicester City in the Europa and Thursday saw Galatasaray take a 1-0 win away to Lokomotiv Moscow.
That means Scotland moved a further 0.8 points clear of the Russian top flight after all of their teams lost.
However, the importance of Celtic and Rangers making it into the new Europa Conference League at the very least was laid bare by the results for Austrian teams.
Three of Scotland's five teams have already been eliminated but the Austrian Bundesliga has four of five teams still competing and picking up points.
And it was a very good week for their clubs, despite Sturm Graz losing at home to Real Sociedad.
Rapid Vienna beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-1, LASK went to Alashkert and triumphed 3-0 and RB Salzburg swept Wolfsburg aside 3-1 in the Champions League.
It saw Austria extend the lead over Scotland to 1.95 points but even if the Bundesliga isn't overhauled this season it's important to get as close as possible.
The coefficient is calculated over a five-year average, so for the beginning of next season the 2017-18 campaign will no longer count toward a nation's total score.
In that season Scotland picked up just 4.000 points, compared to 9.750 for Austria - meaning that as things stand we'd start next season in eighth place when that 5.750 advantage is wiped out.
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