GLASGOW - LYON avenged their first leg humiliation at the hands of Rangers by beating the Scots 3-0 here at Ibrox on Wednesday to clinch a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.

A late double for Karim Benzema, adding to Sidney Govou's early opener, secured second spot in Group E for the French champions behind Barcelona.

Rangers were left to rue an astonishing miss from their French striker Jean-Claude Darcheville to level the score in the 79th minute, which would have put them in the driving seat for qualification.

To complete a miserable night for the Glasgow side Darcheville was shown a straight red card in injury time for tangling with then shoving Swedish defender Kim Kallstrom.

Rangers manager Walter Smith said: 'The game was very similar to the one between the sides in France. There we scored the first goal which meant Lyon had to leave themselves open to the counter-attack and we managed to score another two. The same thing happened to us tonight.

'The margin for error in the Champions League is very small and the two games between the sides have shown that and we're very disappointed to be out.'

Lyon coach Alain Perrin was delighted with his side's achievement - especially after they lost their opening two games.

He said: 'This is the scenario we hoped for after the first Rangers game and we've achieved our goal.

'We knew Rangers would not hold back or give us time on the ball so we played an attacking game and it worked for us in the end.

'But the only time I knew we were through was after we scored the third goal.'

Lyon began the match in determined fashion and should have opened the scoring in only the fourth minute.

A fantastic pass by Brazilian Juninho inside Rangers right-back Alan Hutton put Govou through on goalkeeper Allan McGregor but he blasted the ball into the side-net from only 10-yards.

McGregor was called into action for the first time in the 10th minute, throwing himself to his left to turn Juninho's 20-yard free-kick round his post.

In the 16th minute Lyon took the lead, but were helped immensely by some woeful defending.

Benzema raced on to a neat through ball on the right and drove the ball low across goal and although McGregor managed to dive out to palm it away Govou raced in to smash into the empty net.

Rangers tested Lyon goalkeeper Remy Vercoutre for the first time in the 21st minute with Steven Whittaker's shot from 20-yards requiring the shot stopper to push the ball back.

The ball fell to Rangers' Bosnian defender Sasa Papac but his well struck shot was straight at the French keeper.

Hutton almost levelled in the 49th minute when his delicate chip across goal deceived Vercoutre, but the keeper's blushes were saved by defender Sebastien Squillaci who cleared off the line.

But only the woodwork prevented Lyon doubling their lead in the 57th minute.

Juninho's free-kick from 25-yards curled over the wall and left McGregor rooted to the spot before it bounced off the top of the crossbar.

Lyon looked certain to clinch their place in the last 16 of the competition in the 78th minute when Benzema raced in on goal, rounded McGregor and side-footed the ball towards the open net only for Whittaker to slide in and block on the line.

Rangers immediately rushed forward and missed a glorious chance to rescue their chances.

Captain Barry Ferguson fired the ball low across goal, but Darcheville somehow blasted over from only a few yards out.

And the miss came back to haunt Rangers in the 84th minute when Lyon virtually clinched victory.

Rangers' Spanish defender Carlos Cuellar mis-timed a header, allowing Benzema to race in on goal and poke the ball through the legs of McGregor.

Benzema savoured even more his second goal for the visitors, in the 88th minute, a fantastic strike from 25-yards which found the bottom left-hand corner of the net. -- AFP