Malmo have good recent memories of games against Scottish opposition.

Since turfing Rangers out of Champions League qualifying 10 years ago, they did the same to Celtic in 2015, winning a play-off contest 4-3 on aggregate.

The Swedes also absolutely annihilated Hibernian in the second round of Europa League qualifying in July 2013, following a 2-0 home win with a crushing 7-0 success at Easter Road.

Image source, Getty Images

Richard Foster
Partick Thistle defender on BBC Radio Scotland

Rangers opened their domestic title defence on Saturday with a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Livingston.

Malmo are 13 games into their league campaign and sit second, one point behind Djurgarden, having won nine, drawn two and lost two.

Of course, Rangers boss Steven Gerrard knows all about the Champions League, having captained Liverpool to an incredible victory in 2005.

His goal began a comeback from 3-0 down, with the Reds eventually overcoming AC Milan on penalties.

Malmo manager Jon Dahl Tomasson was on the other side that night in Istanbul, coming on as a late sub and tucking away his spot-kick.

The Dane did score in Feyenoord's 3-2 triumph over Borussia Dortmund in the 2002 Uefa Cup final and might actually have a Champions League medal from 2003 with AC Milan but missed that final through injury.

Image source, Getty Images

No one in the Rangers camp will admit to looking beyond this game, but the draw for the play-off round has already been made.

Should the Glasgow giants prevail, they will meet either Olympiakos of Greece or Ludogorets of Bulgaria for a shot at the group stage.

If the Swedes win through, Rangers drop into the Europa League play-off where Kazakhstan's Kairat or Armenia's Alashkert await.

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard talking to RangersTV: "Picking the team for Livingston, I always had one eye on this massive fixture.

"We have a few suspensions and players missing for different reasons but we have a really strong XI and some decent back-up. I've got a lot of trust and belief in the players that we've got with us.

"The idea is to set this up for next week, to put us in control of the tie. But, as always, we will be aggressive and we will try to win."

That last run to the group stages came under Walter Smith, with Rangers finishing third behind Manchester United and Valencia before they were squeezed out of the Europa League in the last 16.

Ally McCoist was at the helm for the following season and their Champions League hopes were dashed at this stage - by none other than Malmo.

The Swedes won 1-0 at Ibrox in the first leg, while the return game ended 1-1, with Rangers receiving two of the three red cards dished out that night in August 2011.

Allan McGregor and Steven Davis played in those games and are still going strong for Rangers tonight.

Image source, SNS

Malmo: Dahlin, Lewicki, Ahmedhodzic, Nielsen, Moisander; Veljko, Innocent, Christiansen, Rieks; Colak, Berget.

Substitutes: Elborg, Larsson, Rakip, Beijmo, Abubakari, Gwargis, Nalic, Eile, Brorsson, Bjorkqvist, Nanasi, Johansson.

Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Helander, Barisic; Davis, Lundstram, Arfield; Wright, Itten, Kent.

Substitutes: McCrorie, Patterson, Bassey, Kelly, Hagi, Sakala, Simpson, Lowry, Hogarth.

Manager Steven Gerrard said at the weekend that goalkeeper Allan McGregor would be back for this one.

Borna Barisic and Filip Helander return to the defence, while Scott Arfield and John Lundstram are added to the midfield and Cedric Itten leads the attack.

After scoring the opener against Livingston, Ianis Hagi was forced off by a bad tackle on Saturday, with Scott Wright taking over and also on target. The latter stays in the starting line-up, with the former fit enough for a space on the bench.

Glen Kamara, Kemar Roofe and Leo Balogun are all serving suspensions.

Image source, .

Can Rangers get to the Champions League group phase for the first time since 2010-11?

Steven Gerrard has impressed in Europe since he arrived at Ibrox but this is a step up.

The Scottish champions begin their quest in Malmo this evening in the third qualifying round.

Let's crack on with the team news and build up. Radio coverage begins from 17:30...

Image source, Getty Images