By Alistair Aird

There are a number of notable connections between the two clubs.

Three players have played for both Rangers and KRC Genk; Thomas Buffel, Iainis Hagi and Cyriel Dessers.

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Buffel signed for Rangers in the summer of 2004 and scored 14 goals and claimed 13 assists in 80 appearances. He won a league title and a Scottish League Cup during his time in Glasgow.

Buffel joined Genk in 2009 and would spend nine seasons there. In 388 appearances, Buffel netted 59 goals and claimed 74 assists. He was part of the Genk side that won the league in season 2010/11 and was part of the side that won the Coupe de Belgique in 2013, creating the second goal for Jelle Vossen in a 2-0 win over Cercle Brugge.

Buffel is currently the manager of the KRC Genk youth team, Jong Genk. He holds the record number of appearances in the UEFA Cup/Europa League for Genk with 39.

Hagi initially joined Rangers on loan after making only 19 appearances for Genk in season 2019/20. He did enough in his 13 appearances for Rangers that season to earn a permanent deal, and he would go to make a total 130 appearances for the club, scoring 20 goals and claiming 28 assists.

After winning all three major domestic honours in Scotland, Hagi recently joined Alanyaspor in Turkey.

Lastly, we have the recently departed Dessers. He plyed his trade with Genk for a couple of years, scoring 11 goals and claiming six assists in 43 appearances. At Rangers, he was lauded and lambasted in equal measure, but his record of 52 goals and 17 assists in 116 appearances is an admirable one.

Dessers joined Panathinaikos on the last day of the transfer window and he has hit the ground running, scoring twice in three appearances. His goals have been important ones too, the only one in the 1-0 win over Kallithea in the Kypello Elladas and the opening goal in the 1-1 draw against Olympiacos in the so-called ‘Derby of the Eternal Enemies.’

There are connections in the dugout too as Alex McLeish and Phillipe Clement have both had spells as manager at both clubs.

McLeish won seven trophies – including what to date is our last domestic Treble – during his tenure and became the first manager to lead a Scottish side into the knockout stages of the Champions League. He led Rangers to victory in 155 of his 235 matches in charge.

Assisted by Alex Rae, McLeish became Genk manager in August 2014. He signed a two-year deal, but although he stabilised the club, he left in March 2015 after failing to secure Champions League football. Genk won 17 of the 32 matches of McLeish’s brief tenure.

Clement trod the McLeish pathway in reverse. He was manager of Genk between December 2017 and June 2019 during which time he led them to the league title in season 2018/19. Genk lost just 15 of Clement’s 82 games in charge.

Charged with sifting through the wreckage of the Michael Beale era, Clement brought silverware to Ibrox early in his tenure and led Rangers to the summit of the Premier League. But dreams of turning terrible into Treble turned sour and soon Clement lost the synergy he seemed to have established with the supporters. A cataclysmic Scottish Cup defeat at home to Queens Park all but sealed his fate and he left in February 2025 with a record of 55 wins from 86 matches as manager.

Saturday’s win over Hibernian has bought Russell Martin some time. Not much in fairness – the vast majority of the fanbase still don’t want him to remain at the helm – but it means he will at the very least be in the dugout come Thursday.

The performance wasn’t perfect, but a win was all that mattered. The same outcome is a must on Thursday, but it won’t be easy against Genk. Both sides are short of confidence, but Genk have shown that they can mix it and go toe-to-toe with the Belgian behemoths, Anderlecht and Club Brugge. Here’s hoping the performance from the home side come 20.00 is more aligned with the brighter shades of the convincing win over Plzen than the darkest of dark that was witnessed home and away against Brugge.