Rangers' Champions League hopes were shattered as they crashed out of the competition at the hands of Malmo after being reduced to nine men in the qualifier in Sweden. Steven Whittaker and Madjid Bougherra were both shown straight red cards, before Malmo's Ricardinho was also dismissed by the referee Vladislav Bezborodov at the Swedbank stadium.

Nikica Jelavic cancelled out Daniel Larsson's strike from last week's first leg in Glasgow but it was Jiloan Hamad who had the final say, with Rangers forced to settle for a Europa League play-off spot.

Ally McCoist described the result as "a massive low". The Rangers manager said: "The match itself was pretty open and we created enough chances to add to our lead and unfortunately never took them. But in terms of the two performances, especially tonight, I think with the vast majority of our players I couldn't be happier to tell you the truth.

"As disappointed as I am, and I'm bitterly disappointed, I think we showed real character and no shortage of talent. I've been involved at this club for a good number of years and you have to experience the highs and the lows.

"Tonight's a massive, massive low and the end of the season at Kilmarnock was a massive high. But you wouldn't swap it, it's where you want to be. In my opinion you don't want to play for clubs where mediocrity is acceptable, we will certainly not accept that."

Rangers were dealt a blow ahead of the tie as Dorin Goian was ruled out by injury just hours after being granted clearance to play by Uefa. The club said the Romanian was carrying an injury and, with Rangers looking to turn around a 1-0 deficit from the first leg, Sasa Papac was drafted in to cover at centre-half.

The Scottish side started strongly and could have opened the scoring when Juan Manuel Ortiz slipped the ball into the path of Jelavic but Daniel Andersson was alert and hooked the ball to safety.

Rangers' task of hauling themselves back into the tie was made even more difficult when Whittaker was shown a straight red card after 18 minutes for throwing the ball at Wilton Figueiredo after the referee had given a free-kick for a Madjid Bougherra foul on Daniel Larsson.

Despite the numerical disadvantage, Rangers took the lead after 23 minutes, Maurice Edu providing the cross for Jelavic to finished with a right-foot volley that fell beyond the goalkeeper. Rangers had another player sent off after 65 minutes when Bougherra was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Dardan Rexhepi. The referee indicated that the Rangers defender had elbowed his opponent, who left the pitch on a stretcher.

Allan McGregor pulled off a string of saves but the Rangers goalkeeper was unable to prevent a curving effort from Hamad from finding the back of the net to secure Malmo's passage to the Champions League play-offs.