Rangers' dream of progressing into the Champions' League was lying in ruins last night in Sweden. The Scottish Champions were distinctly off-key in the second half and paid the penalty. Rangers dominated the first half only to cave in under a three-goal blast from the Swedish champions who must now be favourites to progress when the teams meet in the second leg of this European Cup preliminary round tie in two week's time.

Rangers were coasting up until the 55th minute when Stefan Pettersson opened the scoring. Three minutes later Par Karlsson added a second and, just when Rangers were hoping it would not get any worse, substitute Peter Eriksson added a third with two minutes to go.

Gothenburg: Ravelli, Johansson, Erlingmark, Lucic, Magnusson, Alexandersson, Pettersson, Lindqvist, Karlsson (Eriksson 71), R Andersson, A Andersson (Ekstrom 87). Subs Not Used: Jarelov, Henriksson, Martinsson, Tetteh, Svensson. Goals: Eriksson 88, Karlsson 58, Pettersson 56. Rangers: Goram, Cleland, Stensaas, Porrini, Bjorklund, Thern, Gascoigne, Negri (McCoist 68), Albertz (Ferguson 68), Durie, Vidmar. Subs Not Used: Snelders, Moore, Miller, Gattuso, Andersen. Booked: Cleland, Gascoigne. Att: 20,000

Referee: Vitor Perera (Portugal).