Pedro Caixinha accepts blame for Rangers' Europa League exit

Pedro Caixinha has said he accepts the blame for Rangers' Europa League exit to Luxembourg minnows Progres Niederkorn.

Gers crashed out at the first qualifying stage against the part-timers, who had never won a game at European level.

Niederkorn had managed just one goal in their previous 13 ties but second-half strikes from Emmanuel Francoise and Sebastien Thill handed them a 2-0 second-leg victory to go through 2-1 on aggregate.

But Caixanha, who has made eight summer signings, is refusing to panic and says he will continue with the plans he has put in place for the new season.

The Portuguese coach told RangersTV: "I'm just disappointed. I assume all the responsibility.

"We could not do what we were here to do - win the game.

"What happened to us today is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. That's part of football of course.

"I'm always a positive guy and never give up. We believe in this process.

"I believe in this process, I believe in these players and I believe in the work we are going to do. This is a strong lesson we need to learn from."

The Glasgow club hit the crossbar three times but paid the price after Francoise tucked home from close range and Thill's free-kick.

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And Caixinha confessed his side only had themselves to blame for their defending.

"The corner they scored from came from one silly loss of possession," he said.

"After that, we knew we could not commit unnecessary fouls but that's what we did.

"We need to apologise to our fans as they were showing this support, this loyalty to the club.

"They do not deserve this. What we need to do now is to keep working, to work harder and keep looking forward."

A disbelieving Progres coach Paolo Amodio told BBC Scotland: "It's a great event, amazing. I cannot believe that we won 2-0 against Rangers. It's not possible. We made history and I can't believe it. It's incredible."