Attendance 38,076
The win, the club's most emphatic away win in the
Champions League, leaves the Ibrox men at the top of
Group E, level on six points with Barcelona.
Lyon poured forward from the off, using their
movement, skill and pace to put the visiting defence
under great pressure.
Rangers held firm however, and incredibly took the
lead in 22 minutes when Lee McCulloch's bullet header
from a DaMarcus Beasley corner found the net.
Lyon came right back in search of an equaliser -
Juninho demonstrating his deadball expertise as one
thirty-yard free-kick flashed over, another being
fisted clear by Allan McGregor.
The home side stepped up the pressure as the interval
approached with both Benzema and Grosso threatening
McGregor's charge.
A free-kick 22 yards out was Juninho territory, and
when the Brazilian's expertly executed effort came
back off the crossbar Rangers had reached the sanctity
of the dressing-room with their lead intact.
Lyon restarted on the offensive, with Juninho again
coming close with a twenty-yard shot that flew just
wide, but within seconds at the other end it was
Daniel Cousin who rifled home goal number two when he
turned on an Alan Hutton pass.
Five minutes later, unbelievably, it was 3-0 when
Cousin's superbly-executed crossfield pass found
Beasley racing through the middle to coolly stroke the
ball home.
2,000 'Gers fans could not believe their eyes - but
'OL' had not given up the ghost yet. Twice Juninho
came close to reducing the deficit in 69 and 71
minutes, firstly when his 25-yard shot rattled off an
upright, then his shot from an even greater distance
was held by McGregor.
McGregor again denied the little Brazilian magician in
83 minutes when he touched over his 22-yard shot, and
when, from the resulting Keita corner Anderson's
header hit the crossbar it was clear that Rangers were
home and dry.
There was not even a consolation goal for Juninho -
his thirty-yard free-kick in 87 minutes being fisted
away by McGregor.
Afterwards a delighted Walter Smith reflected:
"This was an excellent result for us. To win 3-0 at
Lyon was beyond our wildest expectations. We worked
extremely hard, defended well and everyone is
delighted."
OLYMPIQUE LYON Vercoutre; Reveillere (Clerc 79),
Squillace, Anderson, Grosso; Juninho, Bodmer (Ben Arfa
59), Kallstrom; Govou, Baros (Keita 59), Benzema
UNUSED SUBS Toulalan, Roux, Belhadj, Fabio Santos
RANGERS McGregor; Hutton, Weir, Cuellar, Papac;
Beasley (Adam 89), Ferguson, Hemdani, Thomson,
McCulloch (Novo 79); Cousin (Whittaker 65)
UNUSED SUBS Carroll, Boyd, Naismith, Faye
REFEREE Tom Henning Ovrebo (Norway)