Rangers ran out comfortable winners in the first leg of their Champions League Third Qualifying Round with a 3-0 victory over Czech side Viktoria Plzen.
New signing Djeidi Gassama further endeared himself to the Ibrox faithful with his third and fourth goals in three consecutive European games.
The 21-year-old scored either side of striker Cyriel Dessers’ penalty as Russell Martin’s side gave themselves one foot in the competition playoffs ahead of a trip to the Doosan Arena next week.
Martin, who took over at the Scottish giants in June, had blasted his players following the 1-1 draw at Motherwell on Saturday and made some big selection calls ahead of this clash, dropping captain James Tavernier and Nico Raskin to the bench.
But the decision appeared to pay off as Rangers largely controlled proceedings and emerged deserved winners on the night.
New signings impress at Ibrox
Gassama, who joined the Scottish side from Sheffield Wednesday in the summer, gave Martin’s men the perfect start when he gratefully received Dessers’ neat layoff after a quarter of an hour.
The winger took one touch before finishing coolly past Florian Wiegele to give his new employers the lead.
Another of Rangers’ new faces, Oliver Antman, was then denied a debut goal as his low drive was blocked on the line by Vaclav Jemelka.
The young Finnish player may not have got on the scoresheet but he had a huge role in Rangers’ second goal, the 23-year-old jinking into the Plzen box before being brought down by Matej Vydra.
Dessers confidently dispatched the resulting spot-kick to double the hosts’ advantage as Martin’s team went into the break in a commanding position.
It was much of the same after the restart, with Rangers in total control of the tie.
A Mohamed Diomande effort rattled the crossbar before Gassama nodded home Antman’s pin-point cross for his second of the evening.
From there, Plzen offered very little by way of a fightback. Rangers saw out the game and take a healthy lead to the Czech Republic on Tuesday.
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2025-08-05 22:40:08
