Whirlwind Rangers unleash mayhem on Red Star to emerge as genuine Europa League contenders - Keith Jackson's big match verdict

It started like a whirlwind. And it didn’t blow itself out until Rangers had sucked the life out of Red Star Belgrade – and sent another Thursday night shiver down the spine of European football.

If they were scratching heads all across the continent when Borussia Dortmund were disposed of on Glasgow’s south side, then now they have even more reason to wonder what exactly is going on at Ibrox, where Rangers are emerging from next to nowhere as genuine contenders for this season’s Europa League title.

A three-goal first-leg lead does not get close to telling the story of what went on here last night. The truth of the matter is Scotland’s champions are unleashing some kind of mayhem on this competition and now they have planted a boot in its quarter-finals.

And it was all put together in surreal, breathless circumstances on a night which saw three Serbian goals chopped off, one penalty saved, one converted at the other end and VAR on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

It also saw heroic performances once again from specialists Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos but then this was a night when Giovanni van Bronckhorst had star turns all over the pitch.

Van Bronckhorst’s selection seemed straightforward. It was more a question of how and where his XI would be deployed.

But after only two minutes he might have been reaching for Plan B after seeing his side undone and spared only by a linesman’s flag after the dangerous Aleksandar Katai posted notice of his intentions by wrapping one into the roof of Allan McGregor’s net.

The video assistant was asked to intervene. It would be the start of a hectic night for him. And this was just the trigger for what became a firestorm of a football match.

In seven minutes Ryan Jack fired one