Progres Niederkorn 2-0 Rangers: Pain will last long time, says Jordan Rossiter

Jordan Rossiter was making his first start in nearly a year

Rangers will take a long time to live down their shock Europa League exit by part-timers Progres Niederkorn, says midfielder Jordan Rossiter.

The Glasgow side lost 2-0 to the team from Luxembourg and 2-1 on aggregate in the first qualifying round.

"We are all not going to forget this for a long time - and I know the fans won't," Rossiter told Rangers TV.

"We need to prove to these fans that we want to be here and we are good enough to wear that Rangers shirt."

Progres, part-timers who finished fourth in their domestic league, had never won any of their previous 13 games in European competition.

And the two goals they scored against Rangers was twice as many as they had managed in all those matches.

"It's a massive disappointment and simply not good enough and I can't apologise to the fans enough," said Rossiter.

"We've let ourselves down and we've let the whole club and the fans down. They have paid good money to come here and travel.

"We would have liked to have beaten them by more than 1-0 in the first leg, but we were confident coming here about putting a show on for the fans and winning the game.

"The new lads, the lads who have been here for a while, are all feeling it."

Former Benfica winger Daniel Candeias was one of four summer signings to start in Luxembourg

Rangers miss out on cash prize

Rangers have invested heavily this summer, signing eight players, four of whom started on Tuesday and seven of whom commanded fees as chairman Dave King targeted the group stage.

However, defeat means Rangers will miss out on the chance of earning a potential £700,00 in prize money had they reached - and lost - in the play-offs, with a minimum of £2m more available for making the group stage.

Gate receipts would likely have been roughly double that figure.

The Scottish Premiership side struck the woodwork three times in the closing stages in Luxembourg, but Rossiter, who was making his first start after 11 months on the sidelines through injury, refused to make excuses.

"We weren't unlucky," he added. "We just weren't good enough on the night.

"I just think we did a lot of things wrong. At the end of the day, we are out in the Europa League's opening round.

"We need to get together now, show a bit of courage and come out of this."