Kajetan Szmyt scored twice before half-time as Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok came from behind to establish a first-leg advantage in their Europa League third qualifying round tie against Rangers at the Chorten Arena.
Former Norwich City defender Guilherme Montoia turned in Tuur Rommens’ cross to give the Scottish Premiership club a fourth-minute lead with an own goal, only for winger Szmyt’s cross to evade a clutch of defenders for the equaliser nine minutes later.
Szmyt fired the winner in the 21st minute, pouncing after Ivor Pandur had saved Nik Prelec’s shot as part of a counter-attack started when Gers midfielder Thelo Aasgaard gave possession away on the edge of his own penalty area.
The result continued an underwhelming start for new Rangers boss Derek McInnes, who came within minutes of winning the Scottish title with Hearts last season and led his new club to a 1-1 draw at Dundee United in their domestic opener on Friday.
Once a player for Rangers in Europe, McInnes made three half-time substitutions by bringing on Nicolas Raskin, Cammy Devlin and Findlay Curtis for Tochi Chukwuani, Daisuke Yokota and Dan Neil.
Rangers vs Jagiellonia Bialystok: Europa League second leg
The return game takes place at Ibrox next Thursday. Here are the key details.
| Date | BST start time | ET | PT |
| Thurs, Aug 13 | 19:30 | 14:30 | 11:30 |
Jagiellonia Bialystok team vs Rangers
Jagiellonia Bialystok’s 34-year-old head coach, Adrian Siemieniec, made one change from his side’s 2-1 win at Motor Lublin in the Polish top flight the previous Friday.
Former Greece youth centre-back Apostolos Konstantopoulos replaced former Portugal Under-21 international Bernardo Vital.
Jagiellonia Bialystok starting XI: Slawomir Abramowicz, Norbert Wojtuszek, Apostolos Konstantopoulos, Yuki Kobayashi, Guilherme Montoia, Rodrigo Conceicao, Taras Romanczuk, Sergio Lozano, Kajetan Szmyt, Nik Prelec, Jesus Imaz
Jagiellonia Bialystok substitutes: Michal Perchel, Cezary Polak, Dawid Drachal, Dimitris Rallis, Jeremy Agbonifo, Youssuf Sylla, Anders Klynge, Bartlomiej Krasiewicz, Adrian Damasiewicz, Zachary Zalewski, Eryk Kozlowski, Maciej Kuczynski
Rangers team vs Jagiellonia Bialystok
Winger Daisuke Yokota made his Rangers bow in one of five changes for the visitors from their 1-1 draw at Dundee United six days earlier.
New centre-back Olwethu Makhanya started as part of a defence featuring Ross McCrorie, while Dan Neil made his full debut as captain, joined by Tochi Chukwuani in midfield.
Youssef Chermiti came in up front. Cammy Devlin, Djeidi Gassama, Lawrence Shankland, Ryan Naderi – who was substituted at half-time against United – and the injured Ben Godfrey made way.
Rangers starting XI: Ivor Pandur, Ross McCrorie, Emmanuel Fernandez, Dujon Sterling, Tuur Rommens, Daisuke Yokota, Dan Neil, Tochi Chukwuani, Mohamed Diomande, Thelo Aasgaard, Youssef Chermiti
Rangers substitutes: Lawrence Shankland, Cameron Devlin, Ryan Naderi, Vanja Dragojevic, Djeidi Gassama, Olwethu Makhanya, Bojan Miovski, Liam Kelly, Alexander Hutton, Nicolas Raskin, Ross McCausland, Findlay Curtis
What’s next? Rangers fixtures
Rangers return to action at home to Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday (16:00).
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