Rangers took a huge step in their quest for the knockout stages of the Europa League after comfortably dispatching Nice 4-1, with Hamza Igamane scoring twice.

The result moved Rangers up to eighth in the new 36-team league standings and will be hoping to stay there with three games remaining, with Tottenham up next for Philippe Clement's side. 

After surviving an early VAR review, which saw three separate incidents looked at, Rangers took the lead in the 35th minute through Vaclav Cerny, with his strike aided by a deflection from Pablo Rosario. 

Rosario was involved again in Rangers' second, allowing Dujon Sterling's searching pass to go over his head, which resulted in Mohamed Diomande stealing in and brilliantly lifting the ball over Marcin Bulka. 

It got even better for Clement's side in first-half stoppage time when Mohamed Abdelmonem's poor back pass was picked up by Igamane, who finished comfortably after rounding Bulka. 

Nice's defensive woes continued shortly after the break when Rosario saw his pass cut out by Igamane, who powered towards goal and slotting his second of the game into the bottom left corner. 

Badredine Bouanani's stunning free-kick seven minutes from time reduced the deficit, though Rangers should have scored their fifth soon after, only for substitute Cyriel Dessers to fire wide from close range. 

Data Debrief: Igamane shows his worth

Ahead of kick-off, eyebrows were raised when top scorer Dessers was named among the substitutes, but Rangers were able to showcase the plethora of attacking options at their disposal, none more so than Igamane. 

He grabbed two goals and an assist, while also recording more touches in the opposition box (eight) and creating more chances (three) than any of his team-mates. His expected goals (xG) tally of 0.53 was a total only bettered by Dessers (0.74) for Rangers.

Igamane also became the youngest Rangers player (22 years, 26 days) to score two goals in an away major European game since David McPherson netted four against Valletta in Malta back in September 1983, aged 19.

Rangers scored four or more goals in an away major European game for the eighth time, with this the first time they had done so since a 4-2 win at Borussia Dortmund in February 2022.