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There was impressive effectiveness about the way the Italian side dealt with this journey to Glasgow. Without much drama. Roma from Italy’s capital did, nonetheless, meet favourable opposition when placing their Europa League bid back on track. There was a obvious gulf in quality between the Serie A outfit and a the Scottish team squad that has now lost a team record seven continental matches in a row.

Positively, the home side at least huffed and puffed during a later period when capitulation felt the probable option. Yet, the game was settled as a competition by then. Rangers remain anchored at the bottom of the tournament, which should constitute an embarrassment to a club of such stature. Roma have ambitions again on making proper impact. Their only regret in this match was in not delivering a scoreline appropriately depicting the mismatch in quality.

Amazingly, this marked only the Roman club’s second-ever continental encounter with a team from Scotland since Fairs Cup fixtures with Hibs in 1961. The previous one, against the Terrors 23 years later, became marred (to put it mildly) by the corruption of a referee. Back then, teams from Scotland could vie with the best in the continent. The current campaign has seen the co-efficient plunge to a point that will shortly have huge ramifications.

The new manager’s key attribute up to now as the fanbase are see it is that he isn’t Russell Martin. Martin’s ghastly spell as the manager continued for 123 days in the early part of this season. Röhl, the new man at the helm, has displayed potential though within a tiny sample size. The dugouts witnessed a generation game; Röhl is thirty-six, his counterpart Gian Piero Gasperini is sixty-seven.

A further factor was much more noticeable as the sides took the field. The home team’s obvious short stature against the visitors looked worrying. This point was proven within the opening quarter-hour as the Roma midfielder easily redirected a set-piece at the near post. Following up, the Argentine winger burst forward to knock Roma ahead. The visitors minus the unavailable their young striker and Paulo Dybala, who have been criticised for lack of cutting edge despite reasonable performances in this campaign, were delighted with their quick lead.

Rangers should have levelled matters immediately. Rather, Youssef Chermiti screwed his shot wide after a mix-up in the visitors’ backline. The player’s £8m purchase from Everton has piled pressure on the Rangers transfer hierarchy. He has at least the physical attributes to be an productive striker but appears reluctant or incapable to use them.

Roma controlled first-half the ball from that point. Roma extended their advantage through their captain, whose curling shot into the far post of the goalkeeper’s net arrived after a pass from the Ukrainian forward. The hosts will bemoan the fact Pellegrini stood in blissful isolation but it was a gorgeous strike. The stadium, usually a raucous venue on European nights, had been silenced with time still remaining before the break. Even the boos which greeted the interval were subdued; Rangers were clearly in the midst of being outclassed.

The second period started against a curious backdrop. Those Rangers fans directed their focus for the latest time towards the top executive, the CEO, and transfer chief, the director. Two banners, obviously menacing in message, depicted the pair with bullseyes on their images. It raises questions what the Rangers chairman makes of all this. After all, the chairman had an low-profile career as a successful businessman in the US before fronting a acquisition of Rangers. Paying punters have not targeted the owner yet but there is a rebellious mood in the air. This is easy to understand; Rangers’ leadership is wholly unimpressive.

Right on cue, Chermiti was sent through on goal on the 60-minute mark and hit the side netting. This actually triggered Rangers’ best period of the game, in which their substitute Thelo Aasgaard shot narrowly past the post. It was, nonetheless, hard to determine Roma’s continued offensive intent until Zeki Celik was presented with a chance all of a yard out which he somehow lifted and on to the underside of the bar.

That opportunity as far as meaningful chances were involved. The raft of changes from each side resulted in this fixture ended more in the style of a summer exhibition than serious contest. This of course suited Roma perfectly. There was cause to consider how on earth the Glasgow club, runners-up in this competition in 2022 and worthy of the quarter-finals a last year, arrived at the point of just participating.