They did so in dramatic fashion in 1971 on the away goals rule and then in clinical fashion in 2008, winning 2-0 in the Jose Alavalade.
However, it will be a tough ask this time as Sporting have a vital away goal.
It looked like being a profitable night when Steven Whittaker powered in a header in 66 minutes but substitute Matias Fernandez headed home two minutes from time.
Now the Light Blues will need to win or achieve a higher-scoring draw than 1-1.
They will undoubtedly feel frustrated because after a sluggish firsr half they played well in the second but could not hold on for the win they wanted.
Sporting were reputedly a team in crisis in the build-up to this contest, but they were more than comfortable in the early part of the match.
Rangers seemed to find it difficult to cause them any difficulties although at the same time the Portuguese were hardly threatening.
Kyle Lafferty was a forlorn figure up front as he and El-Hadji Diouf did not get the service they wanted in the early moments when Rangers could not get their passing going.
There was a scare in 17 minutes when Madjid Bougherra went down heavily after tackling Djalo and seemed to have hurt his shoulder but was OK.
And then there was a real scare when Evaldo managed to get the ball into the Rangers penalty area in 20 minutes and Helder Postiga got a left foot shot away which had Allan McGregor scrambling but he pulled it wide.
Finally Rangers roused the crowd in 32 minutes when they swept down the right side. Diouf found Whittaker who produced a great cross and Lafferty got ahead of Daniel Carrico to meet it with his head but glanced his effort just over the bar.
Then in 40 minutes there was a glimmer of a chance when Rui Patricio could only punch away a cross from Diouf. When it fell from the air Whittaker tried to hook it goalwards but the with the keeper scrambling it flew wide.
Whittaker was on target in 43 minutes with a low left foot shot which Rui Patricio spilled but when Lafferty went to get on the rebound he was flagged offside.
He wasn’t going to score in any case but he should have done with the first 45 minutes almost completed.
Weiss produced a great right foot cross from the left which found Lafferty in the box but the big chap headed over the top when he undoubtedly should have done better.
This burst of action would indicate that Rangers were on top but Allan McGregor had to show his quality in 42 minutes when he made a terrific blocking save from Yannick Djalo.
In fairness, Rangers came storming out of the traps in the early moments of the second half and showed so much more urgency than they had.
This might have been done to some words of “encouragement” from Walter Smith but whatever it was there was purpose and menace about them.
Indeed the second half was only 14 seconds old when Whittaker forced a vital save from Patricio to earn Rangers a corner.
Then Lafferty came so close in 48 minutes when he tried to connect with an excellent Richard Foster cross but the ball deflected wide off Anderson Polga.
Ibrox erupted in 62 minutes when Weiss made a fabulous run through the heart of the Sporting defence when he was cynically pulled down by captain Daniel Carrico who was booked and might have been fortunate not to have been sent off.
Whittaker had a go with the set piece but hit the wall and then blasted the rebound over the bar.
However, his moment came four minutes later. Rangers won a corner on the left, Dioug swung it to the near post and Whittaker powered a header into the Sporting net.
The hero of Lisbon three years ago had struck again and he raced away to celebrate on the touchline with assistant boss Ally McCoist.
However, his goal has not proved to be so priceless this time as Sporting equalised two minutes from the end,
Rangers had backed off a little in the closing minutes, perhaps trying to hold on to their lead, and they were caught out when Joao Pereira crossed fromt the right and Fernandez found space to beat McGregor with a well directed header.
Lafferty had a couple of late oppportunities to snatch a winner but he snatched at the opportunities and Patricio saved on each occasion.