The famous old stadium once again made its impact felt in the competition as the Gers support roared their team to a special victory over one of La Liga’s heavyweight clubs.

Growing into the contest as the evening wore on, the Light Blues were rewarded for their attacking endeavour midway through the second half as Ben Davies stabbed home from a corner.

There was an impeccably observed minute’s silence before the match to remember former Gers defender Ronnie MacKinnon after his passing aged 83, while both sides also paid tribute to the victims of the natural disasters that have struck Libya and Morocco.

The contest began at a ferocious intensity, with Rangers almost bringing Ibrox to its feet inside four minutes as they cut through the heart of the Real Betis backline. Kemar Roofe was quick to lift his head in the centre of the pitch from a lightning quick attack, feeding a perfectly weighted pass through to Rabbi Matondo whose finish was thwarted by Claudio Bravo.

Ez Abde was the undoubted bright spot for the La Liga outfit in early exchanges, arrowing a comfortable strike into the grateful arms of Jack Butland on 14 minutes from 25 yards out.

That proved the appetiser for Manuel Pellegrini’s side who punctured the defensive ranks for the Light Blues seven minutes later as Ez Abde and Borja Iglesias dovetailed effectively, with Butland once again equal to the Moroccan’s finish as he looked to curl into the far corner.

Real Betis switched the point of attack moments later as they took aim at the Gers goal. Luiz Henrique found Hector Bellerin in a dangerous pocket of space down the right-hand side and, when the former Arsenal defender’s pull-back was met by Isco on the edge of the penalty area, Butland was thankful to watch the ball sail over his crossbar.

Rangers were carving particular joy by targeting Matondo on the left-hand side, although it was the Spanish outfit who came close to edging ahead on the evening when Ez Abde collected a searching pass beyond the Gers defensive line and fired off target on the half-volley.

Michael Beale’s men slowly began to wrestle control in the contest as the first half ticked towards its conclusion. A looping delivery from Borna Barisic was attacked at the far post by Abdallah Sima, with the Senegalese forward unfortunate not to make a clean connection with the ball under pressure from Abner Vinicius.

There was a sweeping move from the Gers to end the opening 45 minutes as Sima and James Tavernier linked neatly on the right-hand side, although the captain’s driven delivery was too far ahead of Roofe and Matondo lurking inside the penalty area.

The Ibrox side picked up where they left off in the second period, engineering perhaps their best opportunity of the evening until that point just four minutes after the restart. Sima did tremendously to dig out a cross on the right-hand side which was met by Matondo from close range at the far post, although Bellerin was alert to the danger to block the ball out for a corner.

Tom Lawrence was next to threaten for Beale’s side as they continued to trouble Real Betis, receiving in acres of space in midfield before driving towards the opposing goal and unleashing an effort at goal which had Bravo worried between the posts.

The Chilean’s crossbar was left rattling just moments later when Barisic’s dipping free-kick – earned after Roofe was clattered into on the edge of the danger area – was tipped onto the upright by the Betis goalkeeper as it looked destined to creep in.

The pressure was slowly beginning to tell as Sam Lammers replaced Lawrence on the hour-mark and had an effort blocked out for a corner following a smart lay-off from Sima.

Rangers finally got their rewards for their superiority moments later following a succession of corners. Lammers’ header from a deep Tavernier corner was met by John Lundstram whose flick-on was volleyed towards goal by Kemar Roofe from point-blank range. Bravo showed terrific reflexes to deny the Jamaican international, but a stramash inside the penalty area allowed the ball to fall invitingly for Ben Davies to stab home from three yards out and send Ibrox into a frenzy.

The away side could have levelled against the run of play five minutes later when Marc Bartra rose highest from a corner and glanced a header just wide of the far post.

It was only natural that Pellegrini’s side began to pin Rangers back into their defensive third as they searched for an equaliser, but Butland stood tall in the Gers goal to deny substitute Rodri from reversing a clever finish into the bottom corner.

Rangers puffed out their chests and withstood all that Real Betis had to throw at them in the dying embers of the match, ushering in another famous evening at Ibrox in the Europa League for the Light Blues.

RANGERS: Butland, Tavernier, Goldson, Davies, Barisic, Lundstram, Cifuentes (Jack, 79), Lawrence (Lammers, 61), Matondo, Sima (Sterling, 88), Roofe (Dessers, 88)

Subs not used: McCrorie, K. Wright, Souttar, Devine, King, S. Wright, Lyall, McKinnon

REAL BETIS: Bravo, Bellerin, Pezzella, Bartra, Abner, Roca, G. Rodriguez, Luiz Henrique (Perez, 71), Isco (Diao, 87), Ez Abde (Rodri, 71), B. Iglesias (Willian Jose, 71)

Subs not used: German Garcia, Fran Vieites, Miranda, Guardado, Aitor Ruibal, Fernandez

REFEREE: Lawrence Visser (BEL)