THE draw for the first two rounds of the Europa League will be made on Monday morning and Rangers fans are looking forward to seeing what lies ahead in the next couple of weeks.

It has been a few years since we have played European football and being back at this level is another important step forward for the club.

Rangers are going in the right direction again and getting back into Europe was important for them this season. Hopefully we can make the most of it now.

You would like to think that we could get through the first couple of rounds but you never know what will happen and a lot depends on how quickly the side settles down in the opening weeks of the new campaign.

It is another box ticked for Rangers and hopefully by the end of the season we will have ticked a few more and we will be a far better side than we have been for the last couple of years.

Pedro has made a number of signings already and got players in early doors but it is a real challenge to mould a team in the short timeframe that he is working to.

Bruno Alves will miss the first game due to his commitments with Portugal but everyone else is building up to the opening fixture on June 29.

There is no doubt that Rangers are a stronger side that they were last season. There are some youngsters in the team and the spine will be changed completely but it does take time for a team to get up to speed.

I am sure there is a bit of anticipation building amongst the fans for the new campaign and they will all be counting down to the day when they get to see their side in action again.

It is a game that Rangers fans are excited about but it is hard to know what lies in wait when you look at the possible list of opponents. There may be teams that we haven’t heard of but Pedro won’t take anything for granted against any opposition.

You only need to look at Celtic losing to the Lincoln Red Imps last year to see what can happen in these early rounds. If you are not at it from the first minute of the first game then you can come unstuck.

Rangers have been training for a couple of weeks now and had their first run-out against Coleraine on Thursday afternoon. The manager seemed pleased with how that went as we won 5-0 at Auchenhowie.

We will have another couple of warm-ups before the first leg and those matches will be really important for Pedro and the players.

The manager has his thoughts on formations and tactics and these early games are a chance for him to fine tune everything.

Having the likes of Niko Kranjcar and Jordan Rossiter back after their respective injuries last season is a bonus and it was good to see them both get some minutes under their belts this week.

The squad is a lot better than it was last season and I would expect them to do far better in the Premiership this time out. They couldn’t do much worse to be honest.

In Europe, we will just have to wait and see. It would be nice to get a wee run but we will have to hit the ground running if we are to avoid an early exit.

Whoever the first game is against, the Rangers fans will be interested to see how the team shapes up and how good these new players are.

It would be wonderful if Rangers could get a run in the competition but we know how difficult it will be to get through the four qualifying rounds and into the group stages.

The last thing they want is to go out early doors. That would be a setback going into the new Premiership campaign.

The likes of Aberdeen, St Johnstone, Hearts and Hibs have had a crack at the Europa League in the last couple of seasons but they haven’t managed to make an impact and get through the qualifiers.

If Rangers could do it, it would be a huge lift for the manager, the players and the supporters. It would be a real boost for Scottish football as well.

But it is going to be very tough, we know that. Everyone at Ibrox will be realistic and they know there are some good sides that lie in wait for them.

It is going to be hard for Rangers, Aberdeen and St Johnstone to do well in the Europa League, and Celtic face their own challenges trying to get into the Champions League.

It would be great if the Scottish co-efficient could be boosted once again because it would make it a bit easier for our sides to reach the group stages in the future.

We need our teams to pick up results in these competitions and hopefully Rangers can play their part over the next couple of weeks.