Sir Kenny Dalglish: Three out of three for Scottish clubs in the Europa League would be a reason to be cheerful

We all want to see the Scottish clubs getting positive results in Europe, and some tricky ties are ahead on Thursday night.

Rangers go to Gibraltar to play against Lincoln Red Imps. Aberdeen travel to Norway to face Viking and Motherwell are also on the road with a short trip to Coleraine in Northern Ireland.

Ideally, all three will go through to the next round the following week to join Celtic in that phase of the Europa League qualifiers.

But they are one-off ties, and there is no room for error.

Steven Gerrard and the Rangers players will play in the heat on a plastic pitch, and that brings its own challenges.

However, out of all of the Scottish teams, you would expect the Ibrox club to be the favourites to go through.

To win any game away from home, you need to be on top of your game and that’s why Aberdeen and Motherwell will not be able to carry any passengers.

Derek McInnes will urge his players to be fully focused and committed in their game.

The same message will come from Stephen Robinson to his Motherwell squad.

We know that it’s not too often that all of our clubs record victories on a European night, but this midweek is one we should be feeling optimistic about.

I wish our three clubs the very best of luck.