Rangers 0 – 2 Dynamo Kiev

Jefte was sent off with a heavy hand at Rangers, but two quick goals from Dynamo Kiev ended their hopes of participating in the Champions League.

Cyriel Desser’s equaliser in the first leg gave Rangers hope and both he and Ross McCausland had chances to put Rangers ahead early in the return leg of the third qualifying round at Hampden Park.

Jefte already had a yellow card, but in the 50th minute he got a yellow card because he wanted to head the ball in. He also got a red, which made it difficult for the home team.

They held out for 30 minutes, but Philippe Clement’s team eventually collapsed and substitutes Oleksandr Pikhalyonok and Nazar Voloshyn scored in quick succession to secure a 2-0 win on the night (3-1 over two legs) and send Dynamo through to the play-offs to face RB Salzburg.

Heartbreak in Hampden

It was not a great night for Clement’s team, who will view this as a missed opportunity as they drop down to the less prestigious and certainly less lucrative group stage of the Europa League.

Rangers started with a lot of pressure and the visitors initially looked uncertain in defence.

However, Oleksandr Shovkovskyi’s team came into the game and in the ninth minute winger Vladyslav Kabaev raced past Rangers captain James Tavernier down the left, but his inviting cross was not heard, much to Rangers’ relief.

Rangers made little progress until the 20th minute, when Jefte headed a Tavernier cross past the far post, before curling a shot from 23 yards high over the bar a few minutes later.

A header from Dessers from a cross by Jefte was easily saved by Kiev keeper Georgiy Bushchan. When Rangers applied pressure, the ball fell to Tom Lawrence in the penalty area, but he could not get his feet in the right place to shoot.

When they attacked, Kiev looked quick and focused, keeping Rangers’ defence on high alert.

On a Rangers counter-attack just after the half-hour mark, Dessers presented McCausland with a chance, but although his shot was saved by Bushchan, Clement’s team failed to capitalise on the loose ball.

Cerny replaced McCausland at the start of the second half, giving Rangers fans reason for optimism. However, that optimism was dashed when Jefte was booked after 30 minutes for a touchline foul on Andriy Yarmolenko. He was cautioned again and sent off for an aerial foul on Oleksandr Karavaiev.

As calm returned after what looked like a soft second yellow card, and the Rangers fans turned up the noise to voice their displeasure, Karavaiev ran clear of the defence but blasted his shot wide.

Kiev took advantage of the extra player and threatened, but Rangers came back and the game turned.

In the 68th minute, Dujon Sterling replaced the tired midfielder Mohamed Diomande and Ben Davies took over from Ridvan Yilmaz, who was injured after a shot a few minutes earlier and was carried off on a stretcher.

It was another setback for the Light Blues and Dessers appeared to displease the fans after he was heard groaning and moaning when he lost the ball without any support.

Rangers keeper Jack Butland was barely under fire, but he did save a long-range shot from Taras Mykhavko.

However, he had little chance in the 82nd minute when Pikhalyonok fired home from distance without any pressure from the Rangers defence.

Voloshyn then converted a back pass from Mykola Shaparenko to equalise, but Butland saved himself at the end when he saved a shot from Vladyslav Vanat after his first foul.

Boyd: A hammer blow

Sky Sports Kris Boyd on Jefte’s red card:

“How that is given as a second yellow card is a mystery to me. He jumps up with his arms at his sides, the Dynamo Kiev player goes to the ground and the referee falls for it and gives him a yellow card.

“I know that with VAR you can’t just show a second yellow card, but this was terrible.

“You have to recover from that, but you feel like Rangers could have played the whole evening without scoring.

“This is a hammer blow for Rangers. I’m not saying they would have beaten Salzburg in the next round, but the £5m would have been massive. Could that have been invested in the squad to strengthen it?

“It’s a lot of money that Rangers are not getting, especially when you consider they played in Poland last week and the performances they put in there.

“Also 39,000 in Hampden. Rangers fans are not happy and rightly so. This whole situation with the stadium has cost Rangers something again.

“Champions League nights at Ibrox, teams fall apart. There wasn’t much atmosphere at Hampden tonight.”

What awaits Rangers?