But at one point the players had feared they would not even make it to the game in time when the team bus failed to turn up.

Minibuses were hastily hired and their zealous drivers took up the challenge of beating the notoriously congested Moscow traffic and the clock.

De Boer said: ‘‘It was exciting. The drivers were racing about like Miami Vice. Although it was a little bit scary, we were there in time.’’

The Dutchman reckoned the experience had even pepped up the team ahead of a task that had looked straightforward enough before kick-off protecting a 3-1 first-leg lead.

He said: ‘‘Maybe it was a wake-up call for us. It’s the first time anything like that has happened to me.’’

And any lingering doubts that the home side, who were aiming for a 2-0 win to take the tie on away goals, might dump them out were erased by first de Boer and then captain Barry Ferguson.

A howler by goalkeeper Vasily Khomutovsky saw Ferguson’s cross go straight into the net and although Rolan Gusev pulled one back straight from a free-kick, Tore Andre Flo made it 3-1 at the break.

Substitute Peter Lovenkrands notched a fourth later on and Rangers will discover later today who their third round opponents will be.

The third-placed Champions League teams join at this point but Rangers cannot be paired with Celtic, who were pipped by Juventus and Porto in their group earlier in the week.

An extended European run is a priority at Ibrox at the moment, especially as Celtic are once again dominating in the Scottish Premier League.

De Boer said: ‘‘We could draw a really difficult team. We just need to try and do our best and go as far as possible.

‘‘I think we can go quite far but we will need to take each game as it comes. We need to have a positive attitude and keep it up in the next round.

‘‘Hopefully we will get a reasonable draw and then we will wait and see.’’

De Boer reckoned Rangers had shown they were capable of producing results away from home in Europe, having faltered outside Glasgow in the past.

He said: ‘‘We knew it would be wrong to sit back. We played three strikers and our intention was always to score a goal.

‘‘We have a lot of good players at the club now. I think we are growing more and more as a team.’’

De Boer also insisted that the Dynamo success was more characteristic of the real Rangers than their previous trip to eastern Europe.

That was in the first round when a deflected Bert Konterman goal was needed to dispose of Euro debutants Anzhi Makhachkala in a one-off tie in Warsaw.

He said: ‘‘Anzhi were not a good side. We played badly. If we had played them over two legs I think we would have beaten them by five or six at home.’’