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There was admirable efficiency in the way Roma dealt with this trip to Scotland. Without much drama. Roma from Rome did, nonetheless, face manageable rivals when placing their Europa League bid back on track. There was a obvious difference in class between Roma and a Rangers squad that has now lost a club record seven European games in a row.

Positively, the home side at least fought hard during a later period when capitulation felt the probable option. However, the game was decided as a competition at that stage. Rangers remain rooted to the bottom of the tournament, which should constitute an embarrassment to a team of this standing. Roma have ambitions once more on making proper impact. One slight disappointment in this match was in not delivering a result appropriately depicting men against boys.

Surprisingly, this represented only Roma’s second-ever European joust with a team from Scotland since Fairs Cup fixtures with Hibs in 1961. Their last such match, against Dundee United over two decades later, became marred (to put it mildly) by the corruption of a referee. In those days, teams from Scotland could vie with the top sides in Europe. This season has seen the co-efficient drop to a level that will soon have huge ramifications.

Danny Röhl’s key attribute up to now as the fanbase are see it is that he isn’t his predecessor. The latter’s dismal spell as the head coach continued for 123 days in the initial phase of this season. Röhl, the recent appointment at the helm, has displayed potential albeit within a tiny sample size. The technical areas saw a generation game; Röhl is thirty-six, his opposite number Gian Piero Gasperini is sixty-seven.

A further factor was much more noticeable as the teams lined up. The home team’s obvious short stature against the Italians looked worrying. That concern was proven within 13 minutes as the Roma midfielder easily redirected a set-piece at the front post. Following up, Matías Soulé burst forward to fire his team ahead. The visitors without the injured their young striker and Paulo Dybala, who have been criticised for bluntness even with decent results in this campaign, were delighted with their quick lead.

The Ibrox side could have equalised instantly. Instead, the forward sent his effort off target after a defensive error in the visitors’ backline. The player’s £8m signing from the Toffees has piled pressure on the club’s recruitment team. Chermiti possesses at least the physical attributes to be an productive striker but seems unwilling or unable to utilize them fully.

Roma dominated first-half possession thereafter. They extended their advantage through their captain, whose bent effort into the far post of the goalkeeper’s net arrived after a lay off from Artem Dovbyk. Rangers will bemoan the fact the midfielder stood in complete freedom but it was a superb strike. Ibrox, usually a raucous place on European nights, had been quietened nine minutes before the break. The discontent which greeted the half-time whistle were subdued; the home team were clearly in the process of being overwhelmed.

After the break began against a unusual backdrop. Those Rangers fans turned their attentions once again towards the top executive, the CEO, and transfer chief, Kevin Thelwell. A pair of displays, obviously menacing in message, showed the duo with targets on their faces. It raises questions what the Rangers chairman makes of all this. After all, the chairman enjoyed an anonymous career as a wealthy entrepreneur in the US before fronting a takeover of this club. Fans have not targeted the owner yet but there is a mutinous feeling in the air. It is one which is easy to understand; Rangers’ leadership is wholly unimpressive.

Right on cue, Chermiti was played in on goal on the hour mark and hit the side netting. That moment sparked Rangers’ finest spell of the game, in which their substitute the young midfielder shot narrowly past the post. It was, nonetheless, difficult to gauge the visitors’ remaining attacking motivation until Zeki Celik was presented with a chance from close range which he somehow lifted and on to the underside of the crossbar.

That was it as far as clear-cut opportunity were concerned. The series of changes from each side resulted in this fixture closed more in the style of a pre-season friendly than competitive match. That scenario benefited Roma perfectly. It prompted reflection to consider how exactly Rangers, runners-up in this competition in 2022 and worthy of the quarter-finals a last year, reached the point of just participating.