Rangers’ aspirations of reaching the Champions League were ended in cruel fashion at Hampden Park after they were defeated 2-0 at the national stadium by Dynamo Kyiv.
With the third-round qualifying tie delicately poised following the 1-1 draw in Lublin last week, Philippe Clement’s men held every chance in Glasgow against their Ukrainian counterparts, with the score goalless at the break. However, the complexion of the match changed when left-winger Jefte was dismissed for a second yellow card by referee Marco Guida when challenging for high ball with Oleksandr Karavaev. The decision was extremely harsh.
Up against it numerically, Rangers soldiered on before two goals in two minutes for the visitors killed the tie. Oleksandr Pikhalyonok drilled home on 82 minutes before fellow sub Nazar Voloshyn slammed the ball past Jack Butland 60 seconds later. Dynamo Kyiv will now face Austrian side Salzburg in the play-off round, while Rangers drop into the main stage of the Europa League.
We give each player a mark out of ten for their display at Ibrox.
9. Tom Lawrence
Took up some promising positions but got his feet in a guddle when in space in penalty box during first-half pressure. Was unable to exert a serious creative presence from the No 10 role. 5 | SNS Group
10. Jefte
Deployed a left winger, the Brazilian showed some bright early moments in attack and came close with a header. Correctly picked up a yellow card for a bad tackle in the first half, but was inexplicably shown a second on 50 minutes when competing for a high ball with Oleksandr Karavaev. The referee dealt him the cruellest of hands with the red card. 5 | SNS Group
11. Cyriel Dessers
Plenty of huff and puff from Rangers' No 9, but he got limited change out of the Dynamo Kyiv defence and was forced to feed off limited service. A frustrating night for the Nigerian. 5 | SNS Group
12. Rangers substitutes
Vaclav Cerny (above, 5) came on at the break and had one moment of real quality when the game was poised at 0-0. Dujon Sterling (3) was asked to protect the midfield when down to ten men, while Ben Davies (n/a) replaced the striken Ridvan Yilmaz. Rabbi Matondo (n/a) came on at 2-0 down. | SNS Group