In a game which promised so much after Djeidi Gassama nodded the Gers into an early lead in Portugal, the home side showed their quality through three first-half goals from Rodrigo Mora, Francisco Moura and an Emmanuel Fernandez own goal to take all three points.

Rangers will dust themselves off quickly and be ready for the challenge of Hibernian at Easter Road in less than 72 hours as their full attention shifts back to domestic matters for the remainder of the campaign.

Danny Röhl named five changes to his side from the victory over Dundee on Sunday afternoon, with Findlay Curtis among the quintet restored to the starting lineup for the clash.

With captain James Tavernier also included from the off, the Hall of Fame full-back drew level with former teammate Allan McGregor in all-time European appearances for the club with 109.

If ever Rangers could have drawn up the perfect start then it couldn’t have come better in the form of an opener inside four minutes.

The visititors underlined their ambition by pressing high and latching onto a loose pass out of defence by Jakub Kiwior, on loan from Arsenal, before Tavernier immediately feeding Curtis.

The youngster showed tremendous agility to spin his marker on the right-hand side before sending over a deep cross where Djeidi Gassama was positioned unmarked to nod back across goal and into the bottom corner despite the best efforts of Jan Bednarek on the goalline.

Porto, harbouring automatic qualification hopes of their own, immediately sought a riposte when Samu centred in search of William Gomes but Jayden Meghoma was around quickly on the cover.

Samu then tried an effort of his own from distance which sailed wide of the Gers goal, before the home side restored parity on 25 minutes.

The impressive Mora initiated the move in midfield as possession quickly shifted over to the right-hand side and to the feet of William Gomes.

He cut menacingly inside and the congestion of Gers bodies in the penalty area saw Meghoma inadvertently knock the ball into the path of Mora, continuing his run into the six-yard box, who controlled and dispatched beyond Jack Butland from close range.

It was harsh on the away side given they had been hitherto untroubled from a defensive perspective.

Emmanuel Fernandez then underlined his powers of recovery as Pepe burst away from Tavernier on the break and the former Peterborough man produced a brilliant last-ditch sliding challenge as the Porto winger looked to pull the trigger.

With their tails up the Portuguese outfit ratcheted up the intensity as they turned the game on its head nine minutes later.

A pass over the top of the Gers defence from Bednarek looked under control from Tavernier as he held off the attentions of Francisco Moura, but an untimely slip from the captain caused a collision with Butland and allowed the grateful Porto defender to tap into an unguarded net.

The half-time whistle couldn’t come soon enough for the away side with the home crowd on their feet, yet they suffered another blow when, six minutes shy of the interval, a corner from Gomes was headed into his own net by the unfortunate Fernandez.

A change was drawn up at the interval as Meghoma was replaced by John Souttar, allowing Max Aarons to take up an advanced position on the left-hand side.

He was certainly picking up some promising positions in the opening portion of the second period, driving a dangerous delivery across the face of goal that was almost turned home by Bednarek at the near post.

Nico Raskin then tested his luck from distance, forcing the Porto goalkeeper to scramble to his left to turn the ball around for a corner.

The away side had recovered their composure in the second period, moving the ball with confidence, but lacked that second goal to really put the cat among the pigeons.

There was a welcome return to the pitch for Oliver Antman in the second half as Rangers ran into a wall of Porto resistance for the remainder of the contest and will now rest and recover ahead of Sunday's trip to the capital.

RANGERS: Butland, Aarons, Tavernier, Djiga, Fernandez (Miovski, 57), Meghoma (Souttar, 45), Raskin, Diomande, Gassama (Antman, 57), Curtis (Aasgaard, 70), Chermiti (Moore, 70)

Subs not used: Kelly, Wright, Gentles, Smith, Stewart, Kerr

PORTO: D. Costa, A. Costa (Fernandes, 60), Bednarek, Kiwior, Moura, Froholdt (Rosario, 68), Varela, Mora (Veiga, 80), Gomes (Sainz, 60), Samu (Gul, 68), Pepe

Subs not used: Ramos, J. Costa, Eustaquio, VZaidu, Prpic, Miranda, Bras