Derek McInnes' unwanted Europa League record continues

 <i>(Image: Andrew Milligan)</i>
(Image: Andrew Milligan)
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Derek McInnes' Europa League jinx struck again this week - Rangers' shock elimination was the eighth time he's tried and failed to get into the competition's group stages.

Rangers were stunned after Jagiellonia Bialystok recovered to claim a 1-1 draw at Ibrox, which was enough to knock them out.

And it was the latest of disappointments in what has been a nightmare competition for the new Rangers boss. McInnes had seven attempts to get Aberdeen into the group stages in the Europa League, but fell short in them all during his eight-year stint at Pittodrie.

Aberdeen were knocked out of the Europa League by Real Sociedad in 2014, Kairat Almaty in 2015, Maribor in 2016 and Apollon Limassol in 2017 - all were in the third qualifying round. The following year, despite taking English Premier League side Burnley into extra time, the Dons went out in the second qualifying round.

In 2019, they reached the third qualifying round again, only to fall to Rijeka - who they had previously knocked out four years earlier - and it was the same story in McInnes' last European experience with Aberdeen, when they lost a one-legged tie at Sporting Lisbon during Covid restrictions.

And the 55-year-old ex-Hearts and Kilmarnock boss fared no better in the Europa League this week as Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok made it eight failed attempts to get into the main stage of the competition.

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