Rangers reaction: Russell Martin's 'incredible' claim, man they can't keep relying on and opponent revealed

Rangers overcame the Greek side 3-1 on aggregate following a 1-1 second-leg draw at the Olympic Stadium in Athens. Protecting a 2-0 lead from the first encounter at Ibrox last week, the Scottish side fell behind to a header from Filip Djuricic on 54 minutes, only to respond emphatically on the hour mark when substitute Djeidi Gassama equalised just three minutes after coming on.

Rangers will now take on Czech side Viktoria Plzen in the next round after they overcame Servette 3-1 in Geneva to prevail 3-2 on aggregate. The first leg is at Ibrox next week and while Martin and his staff will be desperate to progress in Europe’s premier competition, they are now at the very least guaranteed Conference League football.

Martin only started working with his squad five weeks ago and while his team make mistakes, lacked cohesiveness at times and needed Butland to make a string of important saves, they showed admirable determination to overcome a wasteful Panathinaikos team.

“I've just said to the players in the dressing room, I'm so proud of them,” said Martin. “To be five weeks into the process, from where they were to where they are is incredible.

“It's never easy away from home. A really difficult place to come. They really dug in and that's going to be important for us. Big John [Souttar] and Nasser [Djiga] were fantastic. Jack Butland's been brilliant over the two games; we need to rely on him less.

‘It’s no mean feat’ for Rangers

“We spoke about the importance of the subs before the game and they did great. It's no mean feat. We've qualified for the Europa League and now we can really attack the Champions League.”

Defender John Souttar added: "It was boiling out there, really difficult. They had to come out of the traps flying, we weathered the storm in the first half. We could have been better on the ball but it's a new team and that's a big win for us.

"That's how you build a team, coming through those tough moments. It shows our mentality. There are going to be times things don't go our way. We've got [Jack Butland] to thank because he was excellent again.

"[Djeidi Gassama] came up with a massive moment for us again and it's about building momentum now. It's a big, big test to have this game so early in the season. It's important we follow it up at the weekend [away to Motherwell on Saturday]."