Rangers draw Bayer Leverkusen in Europa League last 16
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Leverkusen won 3-1 away to Porto to reach the last 16
Rangers will face 1988 Uefa Cup winners Bayer Leverkusen in the last 16 of the Europa League.
Peter Bosz's side sit fifth in the German Bundesliga and defeated Porto, who topped Rangers' qualifying group, home and away in the last 32.
Rangers progressed to the last 16 with a thrilling 4-2 aggregate win over Portuguese side Braga.
The first leg at Ibrox is scheduled for Thursday 12 March, with the second leg a week later.
"I think they are one of the favourites," said manager Steven Gerrard.
"Ever since I made my debut, my experience of playing against German players and German teams is that they are always tough, big strong athletes who are tactically astute.
"It is exciting but it is going to be very tough."
Rangers are Scotland's last representatives in the competition after Premiership leaders Celtic went down to a surprise home second-leg defeat by Copenhagen on Thursday.
While Gerrard's side had to come through the qualifiers to reach the Europa League group stage, Leverkusen dropped into the knock-out stage after finishing third in their Champions League group behind Juventus and Atletico Madrid.
They subsequently defeated Porto 2-1 at home and 3-1 in Portugal to set up the meeting with Rangers, who won 3-2 at home and 1-0 away to Braga.
Rangers defender Borna Barisic is relishing the challenge and said: "They are a good team. It is no coincidence that they are now where they are.
"I can't talk too much about Bayer Leverkusen because I haven't watched them, but we will see later when we analyse them. But, of course, very excited."
Leverkusen, the fifth highest ranked team left in the competition, have won their latest six fixtures in all competitions, while Rangers have hit a period of patchy form since returning from the Premiership's winter break but have gone four games without defeat.
Before making Friday's draw, former Liverpool and Germany midfielder Dietmar Hamann was asked if there were any of the 16 teams he might pick out for special mention and he replied: "Steven Gerrard, one of my former team-mates, is in charge of Rangers, so I always keep an eye on them."
Rangers have met Leverkusen once before in European competition, with the Glasgow side progressing to the quarter-finals of the Uefa Cup in 1998 after winning 2-1 in Germany before a 1-1 draw at Ibrox.
Manager Gerrard was in the Liverpool side that defeated Leverkusen 6-1 on aggregate to reach the quarter-finals of 2004-05 Champions League.
Rangers have played German opposition 47 times in European competition, winning 15 times and losing 17.
Who are Bayer Leverkusen?
Stadium: The Bay Arena in Leverkusen, in the North Rhine-Westphalia area of Germany, has a capacity of 30,200.
Head coach: Peter Bosz, a former Netherlands and Feyenoord midfielder, took charge in 2018 after leaving Borussia Dortmund, with Ajax, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Vitesse being among his other previous clubs.
Key Players: At only 20, home-grown midfielder Kai Havertz already has seven full international caps and has scored eight goals this season, including one, as well as two assists, in the second leg of their win over Porto. One of those was for their £27m summer signing, 26-year-old midfielder Karem Demirbay, from 1899 Hoffenheim. Another emerging talent is 20-year-old French winger Moussa Diaby, signed for £13m from Paris St-Germain in June.
Europa League last 16 draw
Istanbul Basaksehir (Turkey) v Copenhagen (Denmark)
Olympiakos (Greece) v Wolverhampton Wanderers (England)
Rangers (Scotland) v Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)
Wolfsburg (Germany) v Shakhtar Donetsk (Urkaine)
Inter Milan (Italy) v Getafe (Spain)
Sevilla (Spain) v Roma (Italy)
Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany)/Salzburg (Austria) v Basel (Switzerland)
LASK (Austria) v Manchester United (England)