LINFIELD 0 RANGERS 2 (Buffel 12, Boyd 24)
ATTENDANCE 10,988
To the disappointment of of the huge Rangers support inside the ground, only one new signing was in the starting line-up - French goalkeeper Lionel Letizi from Paris St. Germaine, although two more were on the bench - namely Antoine Ponroy and William Stanger from Stade Rennes. There was also a surprise appearance for Jose Pierre-Fanfan.
New Manager Paul Le Guen received a warm welcome prior to kick-off.
Rangers, wearing their new red-and-white change strip (a la Monaco), and with Gavin Rae captaining the side for the first time in the absence of Barry Ferguson, opened the scoring in twelve minutes when Thomas Buffel swiveled on a Kris Boyd head-flick to slot the ball home.
Twelve minutes later it was 2-0 when a bad pass-back by Jim Ervin enabled Kris Boyd to net.
There was an injury blow for the visitors on the half-hour when Chris Burke limped off to be replaced by Nacho Novo.
The almost-forgotten Fernando Ricksen almost made it 3-0 in 33 minutes when his eighteen-yard shot was turned wide by home goalkeeper Alan Mannus.
Boyd should certainly have added a third on the stroke of half-time when he headed over from a Ricksen corner.
To add to the carnival atmosphere, Linfield paraded their trophies at the interval to prolonged applause from the near-11,000 spectators.
Rangers went through the motions in the second-half, the only goal attempt worthy of note being Ricksen's 25-yard free-kick that was held by Mannus on the hour.
New signings Stanger and Ponroy were both introduced to the fray, and both showed enough to suggest that they will prove to be worthwhile acquisitions.
Linfield made valiant efforts in the closing stages to reduce the deficit without success - but both teams received a capacity crowd at the final whistle.
Afterwards M. Le Guen summarised:
“I am happy to get the first game out of the way, and with the reception I received from the fans. I was also satisfied with the level of fitness. We will try to improve each day, but we need time.”
The new Ibrox Boss also proclaimed:
“I am confident that France will win the World Cup.”
LINFIELD Mannus (Shannon 77); Ervin (Steven 56), McCann (McShane 56); Mulgrew (Gault 59), Murphy (Lindsay 56), O'Kane (Kingsberry 75); Thompson, Magennis, Dickson (Garrett 75), McAreavey (Mouncy 59), Bailie
RANGERS Letizi; Ricksen, Smith; Rodriguez, Pierre-Fanfan (Ponroy 79), Hutton; Hemdani (Murray 64), Burke (Novo 31), Boyd, Buffel (Stanger 64), G. Rae (Adam 64)
UNUSED SUB McGregor,
REFEREE Alan Black (Antrim)