Joey Barton has dubbed Rangers’ Europa League exit the worst-ever result by a British team abroad – but reckons it could actually boost the Light Blues’ league hopes.

Rangers suffered fresh humiliation as they crashed out to Luxembourg minnows Progres Nieder-korn after Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat.

Barton claimed his former Gers’ team-mates had lost out to a part-time outfit – who had never won a European clash before downing Pedro Caixinha’s team – who would only be good enough for the old ‘Unibond’ league set-up, or the seventh tier of English football.

But, while the former Ibrox midfielder knows the defeat will make many at the club re-think their ambitions of catching Celtic, he insists Gers should not reign in their ambitions.

He told talkSPORT: “You can understand the frustration of the Rangers fans. They have been to the depths of Scottish football and they are on the way back up. They are climbing back up that mountain and along the way there is going to be setbacks.

“It is not always going to go in a kind of fairytale way.

“The result last night does slightly change the trajectory of Rangers, certainly in respects of catching back up with Celtic and maybe overthrowing them.

“You can’t get away from it, it is a terrible result. It is arguably the worst result in British footballing history in Europe. But it shouldn’t change the direction of the football club.

“The football club should still be aiming to get back where it once was and that is at the pinnacle of Scottish football and dominating Scottish football. That is where it needs to aim it.”