El Hadji Diouf gave the Scottish champions a first-half lead when he peeled away from his marker to head home a Steven Davis cross, but some poor defending at the other end allowed former Gers midfielder Pedro Mendes to curl home the equaliser on the stroke of half-time.
Rangers looked to be heading out when Sasa Papac lost possession and Joao Pereira cross for Yannick Djalo to head home seven minutes from time, but substitute David Healy broke into the Sporting penalty area and his cross was slotted in by Edu two minutes into injury time.
Meanwhile, PSV EINDHOVEN knocked out French league leaders LILLE, claiming a 3-1 second-leg win to clinch the tie 5-3 on aggregate. Pierre-Alain Frau handed the visitors a first-half lead but Balazs Dzsudzsak levelled the tie for the Dutch side and, after Frau was sent off, Jeremain Lens and Marcelo confirmed PSV’s progress.
With the first leg having ended goalless, Nilmar and Giuseppe Rossi each netted within three minutes of each other as VILLARREAL came from behind to beat NAPOLI 2-1, and BENFICA secured a 4-1 aggregate win over STUTTGART thanks to a 2-0 win in Germany.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN cruised through by wrapping up a 6-0 aggregate win over FC METALIST KHARKIV, Simon Rolfes and Michael Ballack scoring in a 2-0 second-leg success for the German side, while Miralem Sulejmani netted a brace as AJAX beat ANDERLECHT 2-0 to wrap up a 5-0 aggregate win.
ZENIT ST PETERSBURG hit back from 3-1 down on aggregate to see off YOUNG BOYS 4-3, with Roman Shirokov netting the vital goal in a 3-1 win on the night for the Russians, while Aiden McGeady’s added-time strike handed SPARTAK MOSCOW a 1-1 draw with FC BASEL that sent them through on aggregate, 4-3.
PARIS ST GERMAIN were held to a goalless draw by BATE BORISOV but the 2-2 draw in the first leg was enough to send the French side through on away goals, and Andriy Shevchenko was on target as DYNAMO KIEV’S 4-0 win over BESIKTAS completed a 8-1 rout over two legs.
Theo Janssen and Douglas were on target as FC TWENTE hit back from two goals down on the night to draw 2-2 with RUBIN KAZAN, ensuring their progress with a 4-2 aggregate win, and BRAGA overcome a one-goal deficit from the first leg to beat LECH POZNAN 2-1 on aggregate.
And finally, Dirk Kuyt netted four minutes from time as LIVERPOOL scraped past SPARTA PRAGUE, 1-0, while MANCHESTER CITY cruised to a 3-0 win over ARIS SALONIKA, with Edin Dzeko netting two of City’s three goals on the night.