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Roma displayed impressive effectiveness in the way the Italian side dealt with this journey to Glasgow. Minimum of fuss. Roma from Italy’s capital did, however, meet favourable opposition when putting their European competition bid back on track. There was a obvious difference in class between the Serie A outfit and a Rangers side that has now suffered defeat in a team record seven continental matches in a row.

To their credit, Rangers at least fought hard during a later period when surrender felt the probable option. Yet, the match was decided as a contest by then. The Scottish club remain anchored at the bottom of the tournament, which should represent an embarrassment to a team of this standing. The Giallorossi have ambitions once more on achieving significant success. One slight disappointment here was in not delivering a scoreline that truly reflected men against boys.

Surprisingly, this represented only Roma’s second-ever continental encounter with Scottish opposition since the historic Fairs Cup business with Hibernian in the early 60s. Their last such match, against Dundee United over two decades later, became marred (to put it mildly) by the bribing of a match official. Back then, Scottish clubs could vie with the best in the continent. This season has seen the co-efficient drop to a point that will shortly have huge consequences.

Danny Röhl’s key attribute so far as the fanbase are see it is that he is not Russell Martin. The latter’s ghastly spell as the manager continued for 123 days in the initial phase of this season. Röhl, the new man at the helm, has displayed potential though within a tiny sample size. The technical areas saw a generation game; the Rangers boss is thirty-six, his counterpart the Roma manager is 67.

A further factor was much more noticeable as the sides lined up. The home team’s glaring short stature against the visitors looked worrying. That concern was confirmed within the opening quarter-hour as Bryan Cristante comfortably flicked on a corner at the front post. At the back, Matías Soulé sprinted into space to knock Roma ahead. The visitors without the injured Evan Ferguson and Paulo Dybala, who have been criticised for lack of cutting edge even with reasonable performances in this campaign, were delighted with their early advantage.

Rangers should have equalised immediately. Instead, the forward screwed his shot wide after a mix-up in the visitors’ backline. The player’s eight-million-pound signing from the Toffees has piled pressure on the Rangers transfer hierarchy. Chermiti possesses at least the physique to be an effective centre forward but appears unwilling or unable to utilize them fully.

The Italian outfit dominated opening period the ball from that point. They extended their advantage through their captain, whose curling shot into the bottom corner of the goalkeeper’s net came after a lay off from the Ukrainian forward. The hosts will lament the fact Pellegrini was left in blissful isolation but it was a gorgeous strike. The stadium, typically a raucous venue on European nights, had been silenced nine minutes before the break. Even the boos which met the half-time whistle were subdued; Rangers were clearly in the process of being overwhelmed.

After the break began against a curious backdrop. Supporters directed their focus once again towards the club’s chief executive, the CEO, and transfer chief, Kevin Thelwell. A pair of displays, clearly sinister in message, showed the duo with targets on their images. One wonders what the Rangers chairman thinks about the situation. After all, Andrew Cavenagh had an low-profile life as a successful businessman in the US before leading a takeover of this club. Paying punters have not turned on the owner so far but there is a mutinous mood in the air. This is easy to understand; Rangers’ leadership is wholly unconvincing.

As if scripted, Chermiti was played in on goal on the hour mark and hit the side netting. This actually triggered Rangers’ best period of the match, in which their substitute the young midfielder fired just wide. It was, nonetheless, hard to gauge Roma’s continued attacking motivation until the full-back was presented with a chance all of a yard out which he somehow lifted and onto the underside of the bar.

That opportunity as far as meaningful chances were involved. The series of changes from both teams resulted in this game closed more in the style of a pre-season friendly than serious contest. This of course suited the Italians fine. There was cause to consider how exactly Rangers, finalists in this competition in recently and worthy of the last eight a last year, reached the point of making up the numbers.