Lehmann says Rangers are not worthy of Europe

Stuttgart goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has rubbed salt into Rangers' Champions League wounds by claiming they are not good enough for the competition anymore.

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Allan McGregor of Rangers is dejected after letting in a second goal against Stuttgart

Lehmann, 40, helped Stuttgart to a 2-0 win at Ibrox to knock the Scottish champions out of Europe on Tuesday night, and he believes that Walter Smith's side can no longer be considered worthy opponents in Europe.

"Rangers don't have the quality of a Champions League member any more," he said. "I can recall times when opponents were awestruck and scared to play here but those days are gone and Rangers are not the fierce opponents they used to be.

"We could have won by an even wider margin. In fact, Rangers only had one real scoring opportunity in the whole 90 minutes."

Team-mate Aleksandr Hleb added: "Rangers allowed us to play our own game and we were very surprised. It was not a difficult game.

"Normally they don't give you time to think, especially at home, but not this time. Rangers were really aggressive with us in the second half over in Stuttgart and we were surprised we didn't get the same again."