Rangers fans in Malmö disruption bid with 2am firework display outside team hotel

It is one of the oldest tricks in the book when it comes to footballing rivalries, with Rangers experiencing it in Sweden last week and in the Netherlands last season.

A screenshot from a video on social media showing the fireworks and, inset, Malmö boss Jon Dahl Tomasson

Several fireworks were let off between 2.00am and 2.30am in Glasgow in the early hours of Tuesday morning close to the Malmö team hotel, with fans of the Light Blues assuming responsibility on social media.

The Swedes are due to face Rangers in the second leg of their Champions League qualifying encounter at Ibrox on Tuesday night.

One Glasgow resident wrote on social media: “OK so some b******* are letting fireworks off at 02:19 in the Southside of Glasgow.

"Definitely big ones as I can hear in Pollokshields, and were heard in Partick and Springburn. Not sure what the occasion is / was.”

Another resident responded, writing: “Believe they were being let off on the Millennium Bridge. Looked like two display boxes had been set off at the same time.”

The Allsvenskan side take a 2-1 lead going into the second leg tonight, with a match against Olympiacos of Greece or Bulgarian side Ludogorets awaiting the winners.

That match is finely poised, having finished in a 1-1 draw in Piraeus last week.

Gers boss Steven Gerrard has already urged his side to “flip the mood” after back-to-back defeats to Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side and Dundee United, adding: “We only need one performance to light the fire again.

"We're two games in in the league and one game in in terms of Europe. It's still very early days. We won't use any excuses. The last two performances haven't been to the level that we've set."

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