Ufa manager Sergei Tomarov played down his side's visa worries as insisted the Russians are fully focused on halting Rangers.

It was reported over the weekend that Tomarov's men feared they might be kicked out of the Europa League.

Delays in securing the required paperwork needed to enter the UK ahead of Thursday's play-off first leg at Ibrox left them sweating on their place in the competition.

However, disaster was averted on Monday when Ufa got the seal of approval from the UK government – but only after Tomarov and his squad were forced to visit the British Consulate just hours before taking on Moscow Dynamo in the Russian capital.

His side suffered a 3-0 defeat to Dynamo but Tomarov insists there will be no hangover from the drama when they take on Steven Gerrard's men.

"We didn't really have an issue with the visas but we had problems with the time because we only found out we were coming here on Thursday, so we had very limited time to apply," he said.

"We played a match on Monday and the British Consulate is based only in Moscow and St Petersburg and we had to allow time to travel there.

"The actual problem was because we played that game with Dynamo on Monday and we had to be at the consulate the same day, so that was the main hurdle.

"All the Russian-speaking players had to go to the consulate, even those who did not travel with us today because we were unaware if there might be any injuries or other unexpected delays, so everybody had to go.

"I want to thank UEFA, the Russian Football Association and the British Consulate for allowing us to do it so quickly.

"As soon as we walked out of the embassy we put it all behind us."

Ufa teed up their clash with Rangers by knocking out Progres Niederkorn.

The Luxembourg minnows famously knocked out Pedro Caixinha's Light Blues last year but while Tomarov admits his side's triumph over Progres does not give them the edge on Gerrard's side, he believes there are weaknesses in the Ibrox ranks that can be exploited.

He said: "As far as I know there was big changes at Rangers since last year, so comparing these results would not be appropriate as we're dealing with two different teams.

"Saying last year's game is part of our frame of mind would be incorrect, we just prepare regardless.

"To my mind Rangers now are quite a strong team with some good players. We have studied them quite well, we know their strong and weak sides and that's why we're looking at this game very seriously."