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Roma displayed admirable efficiency in the way Roma dealt with this trip to Scotland. Minimum of fuss. Roma from Rome did, nonetheless, meet favourable opposition when placing their Europa League bid back on track. Observers noted a glaring gulf in quality between Roma and a Rangers side that has now lost a club record seven European games consecutively.

Positively, the home side at least fought hard during a second half when surrender felt the more likely option. Yet, the match was settled as a contest at that stage. The Scottish club remain anchored at the foot of the Europa League, which should represent an disgrace to a club of this standing. The Giallorossi have ambitions again on making proper impact. Their only regret in this match was in not delivering a scoreline appropriately depicting men against boys.

Amazingly, this marked only Roma’s second continental encounter with a team from Scotland since the historic Fairs Cup fixtures with Hibs in the early 60s. Their last such match, against Dundee United 23 years later, became marred (to put it politely) by the corruption of a referee. Back then, teams from Scotland could vie with the best in the continent. This season has seen the co-efficient plunge to a point that will soon have major ramifications.

The new manager’s key attribute up to now as the Rangers support are concerned is that he isn’t Russell Martin. The latter’s dismal spell as the manager lasted just over four months in the early part of this season. Röhl, the new man at the helm, has shown promise though within a limited timeframe. The technical areas saw a generation game; Röhl is thirty-six, his opposite number the Roma manager is 67.

A further factor was far more striking as the teams took the field. Rangers’ obvious short stature against the visitors looked ominous. That concern was confirmed within 13 minutes as Bryan Cristante comfortably flicked on a corner at the near post. Following up, Matías Soulé burst forward to knock his team ahead. The visitors without the injured Evan Ferguson and Paulo Dybala, who have been criticised for lack of cutting edge despite reasonable results in the tournament, were pleased with their early advantage.

The Ibrox side could have equalised instantly. Instead, Youssef Chermiti screwed his shot wide after a mix-up in the visitors’ backline. The player’s £8m purchase from Everton has increased scrutiny of the club’s recruitment team. Chermiti possesses at least the physical attributes to be an productive striker but appears reluctant or incapable to utilize them fully.

The Italian outfit controlled opening period possession from that point. Roma doubled their lead through Lorenzo Pellegrini, whose curling shot into the far post of the goalkeeper’s net arrived after a pass from the Ukrainian forward. The hosts will lament the fact the midfielder was left in complete freedom but it was a superb strike. Ibrox, typically a raucous place on continental evenings, had been quietened with time still remaining before the break. The discontent which met the interval were subdued; Rangers were clearly in the midst of being outclassed.

The second period started against a unusual atmosphere. Supporters directed their focus for the latest time towards the top executive, the CEO, and transfer chief, Kevin Thelwell. Two banners, clearly sinister in tone, depicted the duo with bullseyes on their images. One wonders what the Rangers chairman thinks about all this. Ultimately, Andrew Cavenagh enjoyed an anonymous career as a successful businessman in the United States before leading a acquisition of Rangers. Paying punters have not turned on the owner yet but there is a mutinous feeling in the air. It is one which is easy to understand; The team’s leadership is completely unimpressive.

Right on cue, the striker was sent through on goal on the 60-minute mark and found only the outside of the goal. This actually triggered Rangers’ finest spell of the match, in which their replacement the young midfielder fired just wide. It was, nonetheless, hard to gauge the visitors’ remaining attacking motivation until the full-back was given a opportunity from close range which he somehow hit up and onto the underside of the bar.

That was it as far as clear-cut opportunity were concerned. The raft of changes from both teams resulted in this game ended more in the fashion of a pre-season friendly than serious contest. This of course suited Roma perfectly. There was cause to consider how exactly the Glasgow club, finalists in this tournament in recently and worthy of the quarter-finals a last year, arrived at the point of just participating.