European Football Round-up: Durrant smooths Rangers' path: Goram thwarts Danes

RANGERS, those habitual European Cup under-achievers, completed a 3-0 aggregate victory over Lyngby last night, a late goal from Iain Durrant earning the Scottish champions a hard-earned 1-0 European Cup win in Denmark.

Had Johnny Vilstrup not struck Andy Goram's bar with a searing 25-yard volley after 48 minutes, another embarrassment might have been in the offing for Walter Smith's team. Instead, Goram frequently thwarted the home attack and Durrant eventually ran unopposed on to Ian Ferguson's through pass five minutes from time to take Rangers, first-round losers last season, into the last 16.

If Marseille were rather more convincing in strolling past the Northern Ireland representatives, Glentoran - a 3-0 win in France rubber-stamping a 8-0 overall margin - the holders, Barcelona, edged through at half-mast, held to a goalless draw in Norway by Viking Stavanger to progress 1-0.

In the Cup-Winners' Cup, Glentoran's compatriots, Glenavon, performed heroically in Belgium, Antwerp going through 3-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw had left the sides locked at 2-2 on aggregate after extra time.

Airdrie's debut on the European stage ended in a similarly brave exit from the same competition at the hands of Sparta Prague, the only club to beat Barcelona in last season's European Cup semi-final group matches. Holding a 1-0 lead, the Czechoslovaks effectively settled matters with strikes from Petr Vrabec and Roman Vonasek during an incisive six-minute first-half spell, Kenny Black reducing the final aggregate margin to 3-1. Monaco, the 1991-92 runners-up, were held 0-0 at home by Polish Second Division side Miedz Legnicao to sneak through 1-0.

The Swedish international Stefan Pettersson scored twice as the Uefa Cup holders, Ajax, defeated Salzburg 3-1 in Amsterdam to gain a 6-1 aggregate victory. Pettersson scored in the 26th and 79th minutes. The Dutch international, Dennis Bergkamp, was Ajax's other marksman in the 49th minute.

Benfica's Antonio Pacheco went one better, a hat-trick consigning the Slovenian representatives Belvedur Izola to a 5-0 home defeat and an 8-0 aggregate loss in the same competition.

The scoring feat of the night, though, belonged to the Eintracht Frankfurt double act of Axel Kruse and Ghanaian Anthony Yeboah, each of whom hit a hat- trick as the Germans made a mockery of mixed domestic form and a 2-2 first-leg draw in Poland with a 9-0 mauling of Widzew Lodz, also in the Uefa Cup.