RANGERS got their Europa League campaign up and running tonight with a thoroughly deserved victory over Danish champions Brondby.
First-half goals from Leon Balogun and Kemar Roofe were the difference as Gers grabbed their first three points in Group A.
Boss Gerrard named two changes for tonight’s match - from the side which faced Hearts on Saturday, in came Steven Davis for the suspended Glen Kamara, while Kemar Roofe takes the place of Scott Wright.
That meant it was a back five of Allan McGregor in goal with James Tavernier, Connor Goldson, Balogun and Borna Barisic in front of him.
Joe Aribo, Steven Davis and John Lundstram were in midfield, while up front, Roofe and Ianis Hagi played in support of Alfredo Morelos.
Gers enjoyed some good early pressure in the advanced areas, and the first effort of note followed on the six-minute mark with Aribo twisting himself into position for a shot from 20-yards which just cleared the bar.
Aribo has a super start to the match in general, constantly retrieving the ball in good areas for the home side to get them back on the front foot.
Gers continued to press, and on 18 minutes, they grabbed the lead from yet another superbly-worked set-piece.
From the right, James Tavernier’s corner delivery was outstanding, and bullying Morten Fredrup out of his path to meet the ball with a bullet header was Leon Balogun to grab his first goal for the club Andrija Pavlovic missed a good opportunity for the visitors at the front post on the end of a cross, before Gers grabbed a second on the half-hour mark following a lengthy VAR check.
Joe Aribo was involved again, delivering a fine ball to the back post for Alfredo Morelos, and while Thomas Mikkelsen made a fine save from the Colombian, Kemar Roofe was there to bundle home the rebound – although the flag had gone up on the far side for offside.
There appeared to be little protest in favour of the goal being given, but after consulting with his colleagues at UEFA’s VAR bunker in Nyon, the referee awarded the strike giving Ibrox its first VAR-awarded goal.
Mikkelsen then made another fine stop from Morelos to prevent a third, before he clipped the outside of the post with a fine, curling effort from just inside the area when played in by Aribo.
Roofe then got a stud on the end of a Tavernier free-kick in one minute of injury-time at the end of the half, but 2-0 is how it remained at the break.
Mikael Uhre missed a good opportunity early in the second half for Brondby, shooting wide when one-on-one with McGregor, before Gers should have been awarded a penalty when Aribo was felled in the box, but neither the referee nor the VAR saw fit to grant the spot kick.
Mikkelsen again denied Morelos, this time from a 25-yard snapshot from the striker, before sub Scott Arfield, who had come on just a minute earlier, had an effort off the crossbar as fellow sub Scott Wright burrowed a path into the box from the right to set him up.
Fashion Jr then went one-on-one with Mikkelsen after a lovely through ball from Calvin Bassey, but the goalkeeper stayed tall to deny him.
In the last five minutes of the game, the Gers continued to maintain possession and drive forward into the Danish final third, collecting their first three points in Group A.
RANGERS: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun (Bassey, 64), Barisic, Aribo, Davis, Lundstram (Arfield, 78) Roofe (Bacuna, 78), Hagi (Wright, 78), Morelos (Sakala, 71)
SUBS NOT USED: McLaughlin, McCrorie, Patterson, Kelly.
BRONDBY IF: Mikkelsen, Gammelby, Heggheim, Rosted, Maxso, Pavlovic, Uhre (Hedlund, 63), Mensah (Riveros, 63), Frendrup (Borkeeiet 73), Cappis (Greve, 81), Ben Slimane (Radosevic, 45)
SUBS NOT USED: Aegidius, Bruus, Tshiembe, Fallenius, Divkovic, Bjur, Singh.
REFEREE: Fran Jovic (Croatia)