Rangers will be hoping the appointment of Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz is not a sign of things to come against Feyenoord.
Lahoz, 40, has been a constant unlucky omen for Scottish clubs - playing a part in European exits for the Ibrox side, Celtic AND Dundee United in the past eight years.
A banker by trade, Lahoz was in the middle when Rangers suffered a chastening 1-0 home defeat against Malmo in July 2011.
Ally McCoist’s men proved unable to mount a comeback in Sweden as they crashed out of the Champions League at the preliminary stage.
A mere five days later, the whistler was back on these shores to take charge of United’s 3-2 Europa League qualifying round win against Slask Wroclaw, which was not enough to overturn the Polish cracks’ 1-0 triumph at home.
A hat-trick of misery for SPFL sides was completed last February when Zenit St Petersburg battered Celtic 3-0 in Russia under Lahoz’ watch, securing a 3-1 aggregate triumph and dumping the Hoops out of the Europa League at the last-32 stage.
Meanwhile, another Spaniard, Jose Sanchez Martinez will take charge of the Celtic’s curtain-raiser against Rennes.
It is just Martinez’ second assignment in the Europa League group phase for the relative rookie following Spartak Trnava against Fenerbahce last season.
