The Light Blues have a two-goal advantage to take into next Thursday’s second-leg thanks to an early Cyriel Dessers strike and a double from Vaclav Cerny.

There were two changes from the weekend’s match against Motherwell with Connor Barron and John Souttar coming in from the start as they both made their return from injuries.

Rangers lined-up with Jack Butland in goal behind a back five of Ridvan, James Tavernier, Robin Propper, John Souttar and Jefte.

Barron was in midfield alongside Nico Raskin and Mohamed Diomande, while Cyriel Dessers and Vaclav Cerny completed the line-up.

It was the dream start for Rangers with an opening goal coming just six minutes into the match.. Ferguson’s side had started strong, and the aggressiveness paid off as Mohamed Diomande and Vaclav Cerny put pressure on Sebastia Szymanski in a dangerous position on the edge of the box and nicked the ball before it fell for Cyriel Dessers.

The striker showed composure to find the back of the net and despite the efforts of Çağlar Söyüncü to clear the ball on the line, goal line technology confirmed the goal with the striker heading for the corner to celebrate with the travelling supporters.

Youssef En-Nesyri sent a looping header over the bar as the home side looked for a quick response, before the Fenerbahce striker sent a powerful shot just inches over the crossbar as he got on the end of a cut-back from Filip Kostić.

It was a lively start to this tie as Jefte hit the side-netting in a Rangers counter-attack before Jack Butland pulled off a superb save at the other end to deny Edin Džeko.

There was a stop in play with 25 minutes on the clock, as Robin Propper required treatment for a head knock after a collision with Butland. The defender was unable to continue and Leon Balgoun was introduced in his place.

The home side were back level through a set-piece after half an hour of this match. A corner was whipped into the box and fell for Fenerbahce substitute Alexander Djiku at the back post and he got a strong connection to send it beyond Butland.

However, Rangers responded well and restored their lead before the break with a fantastic goal. Nico Raskin did well to win the ball back in a central area before finding Vaclav Cerny. Cerny played the ball out to Dessers on the right, and it was the perfect one-two as he returned it to the winger who had continued his run into the box and guided a composed finish beyond Eğribayat from a tight angle.

Another good move, this time down the left with Jefte and Diomande combining, almost carved an opening for Nico Raskin who had made a good run into the box but his shot could only hit the side netting.

With just seconds of the first half remaining John Souttar made a superb block to deny the home side in the dying stages.

Rangers thought they had the third goal with 51 minutes played as Nico Raskin’s shot was blocked by the goalkeeper before Cyriel Dessers sent the rebound into the back of the net but after a VAR check the goal was disallowed for offside.

On the hour mark, there was another disallowed goal for Dessers, as this time the striker finished low from a Jefte pass, but it was again ruled out by VAR.

Talisca flashed a powerful shot wide for the home side as Jose Mourinho’s men looked for an equaliser in this tie.

With just over 15 minutes of the 90 remaining, Ferguson turned to his bench to introduce Dujon Sterling and Ianis Hagi in place of Ridvan and Mohamed Diomande.

Nico Raskin saw a shot saved from a corner, as Rangers looked to continue to threaten in the final stages, while remaining strong at the other end.

The third goal did come for Ferguson’s side with 10 minutes remaining, Nico Raskin picked out Vaclav Cerny with a lovely through ball and the winger raced through on goal and sent the ball low beyond the goalkeeper for his second goal of the game.

RANGERS: Butland, Tavernier, Pröpper (Balogun, 29), Souttar, Jefté, Raskin, Diomande (Hagi, 76), Barron, Ridvan (Sterling, 76), Černý (Lawrence, 88), Dessers (Igamane, 88).

Subs: Kelly, Bajrami, Nsiala, McCausland, Rice, Curtis, Danilo.

Fenerbahce: Eğribayat, Söyüncü (Djiku, 17), Džeko, Tadić, Müldür (Kahveci, 79), Kostić, En-Nesyri, Amrabat, Škriniar, Szymański (Saint-Maximin, 54), Akçiçek (Talisca, 46).

Subs: Livaković, Çetin, Yandaş, Tosun, Toğrak.