Neil Lennon and Chris Sutton denied entry to Ibrox for Rangers’ Europa defeat to Lyon

BT Sport changed plans for the pair to attend Ibrox ahead of the Europa League double header featuring both Glasgow clubs.

The broadcaster instead had Stiliyan Petrov in a studio to analyse Celtic's early-evening encounter with Real Betis in Spain ahead of Rangers' later clash with Lyon in Glasgow.

Sutton wrote on Twitter: "I'm not allowed to work on the Celtic game tonight from a studio at Ibrox along with Neil Lennon as Stewart Robertson the Rangers CEO says we are a security risk. Good to see Rangers ground breaking diversity and inclusion campaign 'Everyone Anyone' is working well..."

A BT Sport spokesman added: "We had hoped that Darrell Currie and the team would be able to present the coverage of both the Celtic and Rangers UEFA Europa League games live from Ibrox this evening, as we have done in the past.

"Rangers have since raised security concerns and so we have had to change our plans."

Rangers insisted they had complied with competition rules.

A statement read: "We have complied with all UEFA contractual obligations to facilitate BT as host broadcaster. Any conjecture or speculation is both inaccurate and unhelpful."

When the action did start, Cameroon international Karl Toko Ekambi fired in a terrific opener for the French side after 22 minutes of the Group A opener in Govan.

The Scottish champions had come close on a few occasions in the first half but in the 55th minute Gers skipper James Tavernier put through his own goal trying to stop a close-range shot from Islam Slimani and, despite a huge effort from the home side, it was too big a lead to claw back.

Steven Gerrard, who had suffered only eight defeats in Europe previously with Rangers, had warned of Lyon's quality before the game, describing them as arguably the best side he had encountered in his tenure as Gers boss, and in the final analysis the visitors had just that bit too much on the night.