The Ibrox side controlled much of the encounter at the Allianz Stadion without penetrating the Rapid backline.

Yet, needing a win, Rangers’ hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the tournament having started in the first qualifying round were dashed when Dejan Ljubicic put Rapidahead with six minutes of normal time remaining.

Rangers fell out of the Europa League in Vienna after being unable to take the butter from Rapid's bread. Picture: HERBERT PFARRHOFER/AFP/Getty

Der Standard issued an apology over the state of the surface which was in “desolate state” and used that to explain what was a pretty poor game.

“The scenery, the Allianz Stadium was filled with 23,850 spectators, was far better than the game. As an excuse, the turf is in a pretty bad state.

“In any case, Rapid did not act, Veton Berisha was lonely in attack and it was characterized by duels and bad passes.”

“The first half was marked by passion and struggle,” wrote Wiener Zietung

The club’s sporting director Fredy Bickel told Puls4 at half-time that “it was a real battle of wear and tear”.

Der Standard noted that “Rapid had massive problems in the game’s set-up, (the left-hand side) Mateo Barac and Manuel Martic were overwhelmed in this regard” but described Rangers as “harmless” and “virtually never going to be dangerous”.

Neues Volksblatt said: “For the Scots, who had to win, never gave the impression of being able to take the butter off the bread of the Green-Whites.”

Yet, Wiener Zietung felt the game was forever in the balance.

It wrote: “The Scots condemned to win did not take the greatest risk, but they were still dangerous.”

However, the paper also expressed the team’s strength at their home stadium.

“Rapid was able to rely on home strength at international level In the Europa League group stage, the Viennese are unbeaten in front of their own audience 13 games.”

The success was “not unmerited” according to Kleine Zeitung, while Rapid’s coach Dietmar Kuhbauer said it was “deserved” and “an incredible story”.

“It’s my most beautiful day as Rapid coachso far, it’s a very nice moment in my life. Not everyone expected us to get on with it before. We controlled the game for 90 minutes except for one header and did not allow anything. The goal was a gorgeous action.”

Der Standard wrote that the side “beamed like nuclear power stations or the Christmas tree in City Hall Square, having just beaten Glasgow Rangers”.

Finally, the local police took to tweeting messages in English due to the invasion of 12,000 Rangers fans as reported in Austria. One message was to warn that “mulled wine is stronger than beer”.

'˜Deserved victory' - Austrian press react to Rangers' defeat to Rapid