Impressive Rangers see off Dinamo

Rangers celebrate Ronald de Boer's opening goal

Dinamo Moscow 1-4 Rangers (Agg: 2-7)
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Rangers recorded a highly impressive victory in Moscow to ease their way into the third round of the Uefa Cup.

They were put on their way by an early Ronald de Boer goal and were two up inside 16 minutes when Dinamo keeper Khomutovski fumbled Barry Ferguson's cross into his own net.

Dinamo pulled one back through Rolan Gusev, but Tore Andre Flo restored Rangers' two goal lead just before half time.

Substitute Peter Lovenkrands rounded off the scoring near the end of a poor second half.

On a pitch which cut up badly as a result of heavy rain and the effects of a second game in 48 hours, Rangers' superior fitness and ability saw them safely into Friday's draw alongside Celtic.

De Boer puts Rangers ahead

Dinamo's late goal at Ibrox in the first leg had been regarded as a potential turning point in this tie, but its significance was nullified after only eight minutes when Rangers took the lead.

A Claudio Reyna corner from the right was met at the front post by Bert Konterman and De Boer was on hand at the back post to knock the ball over the line.

Indeed, Reyna might have given the visitors the lead three minutes earlier when Arthur Numan played him in on goal, but the American's left-foot shot was a poor one.

The early goal settled any nerves that Rangers might have been feeling and they put the game beyond the Russians shortly afterwards.

A short corner led to Ferguson lofting a hopeful cross into the box, but under Fernando Ricksen's challenge, Vasily Khomutovsky allowed the ball to slip between his hands and into the net.

That goal allowed Rangers to relax, but manager Dick Advocaat was clearly fuming at the loss in concentration which led to Dinamo pulling a goal back.

Peter Lovenkrands rounded off the scoring

Numan conceded possession to Vitaly Grishin and Craig Moore rashly pulled the player down outside the box.

Gusev, who had scored that late counter at Ibrox, needed no further invitation, curling a right-foot free kick inside Stefan Klos' right-hand post.

Rangers were not to be out-done, however, and De Boer, Rangers' best player on the night, showed excellent skill to take him past the challenge of Deividas Semberas before threading a pass through to Flo who sent a superb shot past Khomutovsky from 18 yards out.

The second half was a virtual non-event, with Rangers' work for the evening done and Dinamo unable to further harm the visiting defence.

The one bright spot came in the 79th minute when good work from Flo released substitute Russell Latapy on the right and his exquisite pass allowed Lovenkrands to jink round the keeper and cap a fine Rangers performance with a fourth goal.

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Dinamo Moscow: Khomutovski, Tochilin, Hornyak, Zchutautas, Novikov, Bystrov, Gusev, Dyatel, Grishin, Semberas, Boulykin.

Subs: Kramarenko, Yevgeni Kharlachev, Medvedev, Chesnauskis, Shapovalov, Kozlov, Nemov.

Rangers: Klos, Ricksen, Moore, Amoruso, Numan, Konterman, Reyna, Ferguson, de Boer, Caniggia, Flo.

Subs: Christiansen, Mols, Ball, Wilson, Latapy, Lovenkrands, Ross.

Referee: P Rodomonti (Italy)