Rangers reach Champions League play-offs despite defeat in Plzen

Rangers have reached the Champions League play-off round after defeating Viktoria Plzen on aggregate.

The Premiership side lost 2-1 in the second leg in the Czech Republic on Tuesday but last week’s 3-0 victory at Ibrox means Rangers are 4-2 winners on aggregate and march on in the competition.

The team are now just one two-legged tie away from the prestige and prize money of the League Phase in Euope’s elite tournament.

Last week’s comfortable win meant just avoiding heavy defeat would mean safe passage to the next round but head coach Martin had warned that his side faced a tough task and he named a strong sid, with Nico Raskin and captain James Tavernier returning to the starting line-up.

The team coped with the pressure in the Doosan Arena in the early exchanges but fell behind in the 41st minute. Amar Memic outpaced Jefte and his ball across goal was slammed in by Rafiu Durosinmi.

Viktoria Plzen came out after the break with renewed hope they could claw back the two goals needed to level the tie but Rangers put it further out of reach on the hour mark.

John Souttar’s searching pass set up an attack on the right and when the ball was worked to Danilo, his strike looked off target but Cameron pounced to fire the ball high into the net.

Plzen restored their lead on 83 minutes when Svetozar Markovic rose unmarked in the box to power a header past Jack Butland and set up an energetic finale but Rangers saw out the remaining minutes and injury time to take their place in the play-off.