Rangers delight Advocaat

Rangers were in excellent form in Moscow

Rangers manager Dick Advocaat was understandably delighted by his side's showing in a potentially hazardous Uefa Cup second leg tie in Moscow.

Advocaat's side brushed Dinamo aside by four goals to one to go through to the third round 7-2 on aggregate.

The Dutchman heaped praise on his players at full time.

"Winning 4-1 away is a great result and our performance was excellent," he told BBC Scotland.

"We controlled the game in difficult circumstances, wind and rain, and we scored some good goals."

Rangers are stronger than our side and no wonder they won the game

Alexander Novikov
Dinamo coach

Advocaat emphasised the importance of at last being able to field a settled team by way of explanation for his side's continuing improvement.

"Dinamo have some excellent players in their team but it shows that if Rangers can bring their full-strength team then they have a lot of quality.

"It is the third week that we can play almost the same team and you can see the difference."

Advocaat highlighted Ronald de Boer's early goal as crucial to the outcome of the tie.

"It was very important that we scored the first goal and we expected that we would get more space to play than in the home game," he added.

"And you could see that if we get the space to play how good Rangers can be."

De Boer himself agreed with Advocaat's reading of the importance of that goal.

Michael Mols returned for Rangers as a sub

"It killed the game really and put the pressure on them," admitted the Dutch midfielder.

"We all felt quite relieved because it meant they had to score four goals, and the second goal completely killed the game."

De Boer added that Rangers' tactics had always been to attack rather than to try to defend the 3-1 first-leg lead.

"Of course it's always in the back of your mind to keep a clean sheet, you could see our intention, playing with three strikers, and I think it worked well," he said.

"I think we showed we are capable of playing good football and in the last couple of weeks we have been growing as a team."

Dinamo coach Alexander Novikov admitted his side had been second best throughout.

He said: "Glasgow Rangers are stronger than our side and no wonder they won the game," he said.