Rangers were in control now and that will make the anguish of defeat hurt so much more. The slap in the face came just 12 minutes later, Borre stealing in between Connor Goldson and Calvin Bassey to force home a teasing but cheap cross.

Extra time beckoned as Eintracht went for a knockout blow, but Rangers – and their support – roused themselves and should have won it two minutes before penalties. Substitute Kemar Roofe charged to the goal-line and his deflected cutback fell for Ryan Kent with the goal gaping, but Kevin Trapp’s wonder save expelled a giant gasp from the crowd. Tavernier’s arcing free-kick in the dying seconds was also palmed away.

Ramsey was a late edition to the match with penalties in mind. The on-loan Juventus man had the opportunity to make it 4-3 in the shootout after Tavernier, Steven Davis and Scott Arfield slotted Rangers’ first three kicks, but the Welsh midfielder’s tame effort was whacked away by Trapp’s trailing leg.

It would be the only miss of the shootout, as Rangers’ marathon run in Europe came to the most agonising of ends in a flurry of white bedlam.

Man of the match – Calvin Bassey

What does this mean?

The golden glitter was still falling from the winners’ podium as Rangers’ players remained sat on their hunkers inside an emptying stadium.

The haunted look on the face of McGregor – in what might even be the final game of his career – told its own story. This was the cruellest of endings on what should have been the closing chapter of their finest ever moment.

The teams beaten along the way, and the manner in which they were dealt with, made this run iconic and at times defied logic. Money, tactics, superior players and reality went out the window as Borussia Dortmund were stormed past. Braga were overcome in extra-time drama. And the Ibrox roof nearly crashed in on itself as RB Leipzig were put to the sword.

This one will sting, given the game was in their hands after Aribo’s opener. Eintracht, who knocked out Barcelona and West Ham, threatened to wilt under the pressure. Rangers had them, but the door was left open.

The spurned chances at the death of extra time also offer a cruel pang of “what if” to the punched gut of emotions that will be churning its way through the Rangers team as their flight heads home on Thursday.

In time, that will subside and they will rightly focus on the pride of a team from Scotland making it to a European final from so far back. It’s an incredible feat.

Yet, with the Scottish Cup final in just three days, there will be little time for Van Bronckhorst’s side to salve the sting of this one.

Match stats

• Eintracht become the first German team to win the Uefa Cup/Europa League since Schalke in 1996-97.
• It is their second major European trophy, 42 years after winning the Uefa Cup against Borussia Monchengladbach.
• This was Rangers first shootout defeat in Europe since the 1999-00 Uefa Cup (v Borussia Dortmund in the round of 32).
• Rangers had four shots on target in the second half of extra time – double the amount they had in the first 105 minutes
• Aribo’s goal was his first in the Europa League this season. He became just the second Nigerian player to score in the final of a major European competition, after Alex Iwobi in the 2019 Europa League.
• McGregor became the oldest player to feature in a Uefa Cup/Europa League final (40y 107d). Meanwhile, he’s just the third player aged 40+ to play in a major European final, after Dino Zoff in the 1983 European Cup (41y 86d), and Edwin van der Sar in the 2011 Champions League (40y 211d).