Killen, who was later shown a red card along with Phil Bardsley, scored his side’s second with only nine minutes remaining and this proved enough to subject the Light Blues to their first defeat of the season.
In truth, Tony Mowbray’s side outmuscled Rangers from the kick-off and their intent in picking up three points was evident from referee John Underhill’s first whistle.
Le Guen rotated his squad for today’s SPL clash and decided to hand Sebo his first start of the season with Kris Boyd dropping to the bench.
Barry Ferguson also retained his place in the starting eleven after Thursday’s UEFA Cup first-leg in Molde and Jeremy Clement joined the captain in the centre of midfield.
If Sebo did not know about the physical nature of the Scottish game he found out after only three minutes when Hibs defender Rob Jones produced a rash tackle from behind in the centre circle.
It was clear that Mowbray’s boys were up for the big occasion and Sproule, so often the thorn in Rangers side in previous encounters, almost got his side in front a minute later when he sprinted past Smith and Rodriguez on the right wing but McGregor made a fine diving stop.
In what was a frantic start to the match, the home side then took the lead on seven minutes.
Kevin Thomson whipped in a free-kick and Killen rose above the Gers’ defence before directing a looping header beyond the helpless keeper from 16 yards
At this stage Rangers were simply looking to get into the game and their hesitancy at the back almost cost them again when Thomson strolled through the midfield but his shot, fortunately, lacked any power.
The Hibs supporters were clearly enjoying what they were seeing and Rangers again had to thank McGregor for keeping them in the game before the 20 minute mark.
An error from Rodriguez presented Hibs with another free-kick and when the ball was flighted into the box Killen won the header but the Gers’ goalie dived low to his right to produce a stunning save before Svensson blocked a shot from Jones.
Stevie Smith was the first player in a Light Blue jersey to let his frustration get the better of him and he was booked for a lunging tackle on Sproule after the Hibs winger had used his pace to get beyond the young left-back.
Barry Ferguson soon followed into referee John Underhill’s notebook for using his elbow when challenging Easter Road captain Thomson before Bardsley made it three yellow cards in the space of seven minutes for blocking a forward run by Abdessalam Benjelloun.
The end of the first-half could not come quick enough for the visitors as they had failed to create a single chance to trouble Hibs keeper Zbigniew Malkowski.
A change to the Gers’ line-up was somewhat inevitable for the start of the second period and Sasa Papac made his debut in place of Smith.
Rangers, as expected, came out with all guns blazing and the big question was whether or not Hibs could sustain the high tempo that they produced for almost the entire first-half.
Discipline, however, remained a problem for Rangers and Clement was booked for pulling Scott Brown’s shirt to halt an attack.
Rangers had to wait until the 61st minute for their first real attempt on goal after Jones was booked for a foul on Burke 25 yards out.
Bardsley, who scored a terrific free-kick against Falkirk at Ibrox last week, tried his luck with a similar effort which went inches wide.
Four minutes later, however, and Rangers were level. Burke sprinted past Hibs left-back David Murphy before finding Sebo in the box with a fantastic cross.
The Slovakian hitman rose majestically before finding the net and celebrating in style with the Gers fans in the away end of the ground.
Le Guen’s side might not have deserved to be back in the game if chances and possession was anything to go by but the Gers faithful will not have cared and the introduction of Kris Boyd showed the manager’s intentions to go for the win.
But Hibs were in no mood to lie down and they were back in front on 81 minutes.
Steven Whittaker produced a dangerous cross into the box and Killen out jumped Svensson to find the corner of the net.
The shine was taken off the striker’s day when he was shown a red card with minutes remaining for what looked like a kick on Rodriguez but he received a standing ovation as he left the field.
It always looked like this was going to be Hibs day and things got worse for the Gers when Bardsley was given his marching orders in injury time for speaking back to referee in injury time.
It was disappointing end to a disappointing day for Paul Le Guen’s team but they must now regroup for Wednesday night’s League Cup clash against Dunfermline at East End Park.
HIBS: Malkowski; Whittaker, Jones, Martis, Murphy; Sproule (Glass 82), Brown, Stewart, (Fletcher 76) Thomson; Killen, Benjelloun (Shield 61)
Subs Not Used: McNeill, McCluskey, Shields, Konde
Bookings: Jones (61), Brown (78) Killen (80)
Sending Off: Killen (87)
RANGERS: McGregor; Smith (Papac 46), Rodriguez, Svensson, Bardsley; Martin, Ferguson, Clement, Burke, Buffel, Sebo
Subs Not Used: Robinson, Hemdani, Novo, Sionko, Boyd, Hutton
Bookings: Smith (29), Ferguson (32), Bardsley (36) Clement (49)
Sending Off: Bardsley (90)
Referee: John Underhill
Man of the Match: Allan McGregor