Rangers faced Leeds United in the second round in a tie dubbed the "Battle of Britain" due to the clubs being the respective champions of Scotland and England.
Despite that quality of opposition, Rangers came close to eliminating Bayern,[6][7] and after falling into the UEFA Cup, lost to Borussia Dortmund only via a last-minute goal and a penalty shootout.
[8] In the following campaign, they seemed poised to progress after beating Sturm Graz and Monaco in the first two rounds of group fixtures,[9] only to collect just two more points and again finish third,[10] with German opposition (Kaiserslautern) again swiftly ending UEFA Cup hopes.
[11] In 2001–02, Rangers quickly dropped into the secondary competition and survived a late missed penalty to overcome Paris Saint-Germain[12] (whose team included future Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldinho and Mikel Arteta who would soon move to Glasgow); they were knocked out by the eventual winners Feyenoord, inspired by former Celtic striker Pierre van Hooijdonk.
[13] By that time Alex McLeish had taken over from Advocaat, heralding an era of less lavish spending as the failures to succeed in Europe despite the heavy investment translated as worrying figures on Rangers' financial reports; this debt would later have dire consequences for the club, although in the short and medium term more domestic honours were won.
The Manchester final saw a huge number of Rangers supporters make the short journey from Scotland, but the event was marred by serious disorder at one of the city's main 'fan zones' after the screen showing the match failed to function.
However, due to entering administration in 2012 and the subsequent liquidation of the club's holding company, the new entity that was set up in its place, The Rangers International Football Club Plc, was restricted from European competition by UEFA for three seasons as rules stated they needed to present three years worth of accounts; Rangers were therefore not eligible for participation again until 2015–16.
In their final match, Rangers led Young Boys 1–0 at Ibrox and were on course to progress as group winners, however an 89th-minute equaliser meant they finished 2nd behind Porto.
In the first leg at Ibrox, Rangers trailed 0–2 after 60 minutes but after an extraordinary comeback, won 3–2 thanks to a brace from Ianis Hagi and a goal from Joe Aribo, where he beat multiple Braga defenders to score.
Rangers achieved impressive results during the qualifying rounds (which were played as single matches behind very small crowds or none at all due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe), beating Willem II 4–0 away and Galatasaray 2–1 at Ibrox.