Rangers' brutal run to reach the knockouts of the Europa League can be laid bare with a comparison of their fellow top-eight teams.
Philippe Clement's men last night secured eighth spot in the league phase of the UEFA competition. This guaranteed them a spot in the last-16, and a bye past the play-off round.
Nicolas Raskin and Vaclav Cerny scored the goals as Rangers saw off Union Saint-Gilloise at Ibrox.
Rangers went into the game knowing that they were assured of at least a play-off spot.
However, their victory, coupled with Manchester United's win over FCSB, helped the Scottish Premiership giants into the top-eight alongside the Red Devils, Lazio, Athletic Bilbao, Tottenham, Eintracht Frankfurt, Lyon and Olympiacos.
From the outset, it was never any secret just how tough Rangers fixture list was for the new-look league phase of the competition.
However, now all is said and done, it can officially be said that Rangers had the toughest route to reaching their goal.
That's because out of all of the aforementioned eventual top-eight sides, Rangers played FOUR of them in the league phase.
That is one more than Lyon, who faced three of the final top-eight, two more than Olympiacos who played two of the top-eight, and three more than Frankfurt, Spurs and Man Utd who all only played one team to finish inside the automatic round of 16 slots.
Top of the table Lazio didn't play a single team in the top 11 of the competition. Meanwhile, Bilbao didn't face a side in the top 14.
Rangers had to go up against Lyon on matchday two, and were humbled 4-1 on home soil by the Ligue 1 outfit.
They then played Olympiacos away in Greece, managing to rescue a 1-1 draw thanks to a stunning touch and finish by Cyriel Dessers.
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Ange Postecoglou's Spurs held Rangers to a 1-1 draw at Ibrox in December, and then of course Bruno Fernandes sunk Rangers with a last-gasp winner for Man United at Old Trafford last week.
While there were obviously more top-quality sides in the competition who didn't finish as high up the table for one reason or another, this statistic further puts into focus just how big an achievement it is for Clement and his players.
They already know they will take on one of FC Twente, Fenerbahce, Bodo/Glimt or Anderlecht in the last-16 in March.
