Rangers suffered a Champions League disappointment as they fell to 10-man Malmo in the UEFA Champions League qualifications knockouts.

After suffering a 2-1 defeat at Sweden last week, Rangers started brilliantly the second leg tie, drawing level in aggregate through Alfredo Morelo’s goal, before Bonke Innocent was sent off for two bookings in a space of five minutes leaving Malmo short of one player seconds before the halftime whistle.

Rangers FC players celebrating in their first leg.
PHOTO: Courtesy

The tie seemed to favor Steven Gerrard’s side as they enjoyed home advantage in front of their own fans at Glasgow but their spirited fight bore no fruits.

Morelos missed big chances in the second half and for sure it came back to haunt the Gers and two goals in quick successions by Malmo attacker Antonio Colak turned the tables on the scoreline and on the aggregate.

The second Colak’s goal came through poor defending by Rangers as it resulted from a long throw-in, with the forward then spinning past two Rangers defenders before releasing a low spinning shot past helpless McGregor to seal up the victory for Malmo who is now one fixture away from the UEFA Champions League group stages.

Malmo FC players celebrate the winning goal.
PHOTO: Courtesy

Ludogorets is now the next fixture for Malmo. On their side, Ludogorets knocked out Olympiacos to advance through in the Champions League qualifiers.

Ludogorets knocked out Greek Champions Olympiacos in a thrilling tie that had to be decided by a penalty shoot-out. The teams headed into the second leg, 1-1 on aggregate, but a 2-2 draw could not separate the two teams after 120 minutes of play.

Olympiacos had taken the lead through Yann Mvila, but a Ruben Semedo own goal and then Pieros Sotiriou effort put Ludogorets 2-1 up on the night but Youssef El-Arabi forced the game into extra time and eventually penalties.

The Belgians advanced through winning 4-1 on penalties. FC Midtjylland, the conquerors of Celtic in the previous round, are out of the tournament after a 4-0 aggregate defeat by Dutch outfit PSV Eindhoven.

Monaco is also safely through to the play-off round. They defeated Czech side Sparta Prague 3-1 to advance through.

Rangers who won the Scottish League last season will now have to endure one more season without Champions League football and will now have to turn their focus to the EUROPA League qualifiers in which they will play against Kairat Almaty or Alashkert FC. Should they fail to win, they will drop to the new UEFA Conference League.