Attendance 47,401
Rangers have a mountain to climb when they travel to Copenhagen in two weeks time if they are to qualify for the Promised Land that is the UEFA Champions League following tonight s 1-1 draw with FC Copenhagen at Ibrox.
A performance that at best can be described as disappointing only served to highlight the deficiencies in the Scottish Champions line-up following the drain of talent out of Ibrox during the summer.
There were no changes in the home side from that which had defeated Kilmarnock so comprehensively last Saturday, with three of the new arrivals finding a place on the bench, namely Paulo Vanoli, Nuno Capucho and Henning Berg.
Rangers made a dream start when a dipping Mikel Arteta free-kick in seven minutes deceived Danish goalkeeper Balazs Rabuczki who could only push the ball out into the path of Peter Lovenkrands who swept the ball home.
That early strike brought the Stadium to life with 47,901 spectators (including a healthy contingent from across the North Sea) inside. Arteta almost raised the decibels even higher when his twenty-yard drive from a Michael Ball pass flew over the bar.
Copenhagen were breaking forward at every opportunity however Stefan Klos denying Thomas Larsen when his eighteen-yard shot was turned round the post in 29 minutes.
Two minutes later Rangers spurned a great chance to go two up when an Arteta cross was headed on by Craig Moore. Michael Mols, unmarked on the six-yard line, turned the ball goalwards only to see Rabuczki spread his body to block the shot.
It was far from one-way traffic however Sibusiso Zuma dispossessed Zurab Khizanishvili some thirty yards out and advanced into the penalty area before testing Klos with a low drive.
The half ended with Rangers 1-0 ahead, but the single goal advantage was wiped out five minutes after the restart when with little danger apparent Hjalte Bo Norregaard s thirty-yard drive was deflected into the path of Todi Jonsson who swivelled on the eighteen-yard line before dispatching a low left-foot drive beyond Klos into the net.
The strike was the first goal conceded by Rangers against Danish opponents in a European tie, but the third consecutive Ibrox European tie in which the home side have conceded an away goal.
It was a hammer blow for Rangers who had lost the momentum built up during the first-half. Copenhagen however were invigorated by the securing of an away goal, and began to dominate the midfield.
There was an increasingly desperate air about proceedings from a home point of view, perhaps reflected in Alex McLeish s 58th minute substitution of Nuno Capucho for Maurice Ross.
The only danger emanating from the home side however was from Mikel Arteta s free-kicks, one of which found Khizanishvili (by some way the best performer in the Ibrox ranks). The Georgian s 67th minute drive was however blocked, and the danger cleared.
Two minutes later Steven Thompson replaced the anonymous Ronald De Boer, but the Light Blues never looked like regaining the upper hand in the closing stages.
Rangers were struggling desperately now against a side who were certainly well organised and hard working, and the final whistle brought a crescendo of booing from a hugely-disappointed home crowd.
Manager Alex Mcleish afterwards acknowledged his dissappointment with the second-half:
"We started so well, but now need to score in Copenhagen."
He refused to comment on the performance of Ronald DE Boer, who was a grave dissappointment.
There is now a massive task ahead if Rangers are to progress in this tournament the draw that paired them with the Danish Champions was not nearly as kind as that which paired the Scottish Runners-up with MTK Budapest, effectively a bye into the Champions League, so poverty-stricken is the current state of Hungarian football.
RANGERS Klos; Ross (Capucho 58), Moore, Khizanishvili, Ball; Ricksen, Ferguson, Arteta, Lovenkrands; Mols, De Boer (Thompson 69)
UNUSED SUBS McGregor, Nerlinger, Malcolm, Vanoli, Berg
FC COPENHAGEN Rabuczki; Tobiasen, Svensson, Albrechtsen, Rooba; Mykland, Nielsen, Bo Norregaard, Larsen; Zuma, Jonsson (Moller 76)
UNUSED SUBS Svard, Zivkovic, Bisgaard, Traore, Bech, Kihlstedt
REFEREE Manuel Gonzales (Spain)