One of the great engineers and inventors of his time, it was Sweden’s Alfred Nobel who created the first stick of dynamite all the way back in 1867.
In this quiet little corner of Nobel’s homeland, it was Malmo manager Henrik Rydstrom who probably felt like something had just blown up in his face.
In the build-up to this opening match of the Europa League campaign, Rydstrom and Malmo had poked fun at Rangers in a video released on the club’s social media account.
With Rangers having to endure all kinds of pain and suffering in their previous contests with Malmo, Rydstrom boldly predicted that it would ‘probably happen again’.
In the end, he was made to look somewhat foolish. Where Rydstrom’s pre-match bluster had come back to bite him, it was Rangers who started with a bang at the dawn of a new European campaign.
Nedim Bajrami scored his first goal for the club after just 56 seconds to set them on their way to victory and, from there, Rangers never really looked back.
Substitute Ross McCausland sealed the three points with a smartly-taken goal on 76 minutes, wrapping up Rangers’ first ever victory over Swedish opposition.
This was a terrific night for Philippe Clement and his players, a result which breathes new life into their season.
Just a day after his 28th birthday, John Souttar was excellent in defence, heading and tackling everything that came his way against a Malmo side who failed to live up to their pre-match billing.
Lyon will be due at Ibrox next week, with Rangers playing Hibs on Sunday as they look to kickstart their domestic season. But the team should be imbued with a renewed sense of confidence after this victory over the Swedish champions.
There was a monsoon in Malmo during the afternoon but it did little to dampen a crackling atmosphere inside this tight little stadium.
The Malmo ultras made a hell of a racket in the safe standing area behind one of the goals, but it was Rangers voices who would roar in celebration come full-time.
Clement knew he would have to shuffle his pack due to the lack of natural options at left-back, with Jefte suspended and Ridvan Yilmaz still out injured.
Elsewhere in the Rangers squad, new signing Hamza Igamane was unable to travel due to issues with his passport.
Neraysho Kasanwirjo came in to make his first start for the club at left-back, the 22-year-old Dutch defender having joined on a season-long loan from Feyenoord last month.
Kasanwirjo is naturally right-sided, so the fact he was playing out of position was something that Malmo were expected to exploit whenever possible.
The Swedish champions were unchanged from their 4-0 home win over Hacken last weekend and, now eight points clear with only six matches to play, they look good to make it back-to-back titles.
But they found themselves trailing almost immediately as Rangers took the lead before the smoke had even dissipated from a pre-match pyro display from both sets of supporters.
Pressing the home side high up the pitch, Cyriel Dessers pounced on a woeful backpass from Malmo left-back Gabriel Busanello.
Rounding the keeper and with a fair chunk of the target to aim at, Dessers really ought to have scored himself.
His shot came back off the post and rolled across the face of goal, with Bajrami arriving to slot into an empty net. With just 56 seconds on the clock, it was the perfect start for Rangers.
Bajrami is carving a niche for himself with these early goals. The Albanian winger scored the fastest goal in the history of the European Championship when he netted after just 23 seconds against Italy earlier this summer.
The goal rattled Malmo. They didn’t look like a team closing in on their second successive title in Sweden.
Instead, they looked like a team who had won just twice in their past seven matches in all competitions heading into this clash.
Kasanwirjo was having a solid game for Rangers, often tucking inside and playing a more inverted role as Connor Barron dropped deep to essentially make it a back three at times.
Malmo thought they had equalised when striker Isaac Kiese Thelin tucked home from a Sergio Pena free-kick, only to be flagged for offside.
For all the Swedes are renowned as an exciting, attacking team under head coach Rydstrom, the truth is they barely fired a shot during the opening 45 minutes.
They only had two touches inside the Rangers box in the first half. Even at that, not many inside the Eleda Stadion could recall those two touches.
Jack Butland was entirely untroubled in the Rangers goal — and the visitors should actually have doubled their lead five minutes before the break.
A nice touch from Dessers laid the ball off for Bajrami, who then split the Malmo defence wide open with a terrific pass for Cerny.
Clean through on goal and with only the keeper to beat, Cerny opened his body and tried to place one into the far corner, but his left-foot shot was wide of the target. In the context of the game, it was a huge miss.
Clement’s side went up the tunnel 1-0 up and looking comfortable, albeit they should have been further ahead.
You suspect a few choice words may have been spoken inside the home dressing room at half-time, such was the timid nature of Malmo’s performance.
They had a good chance to equalise when skipper Anders Christiansen met a cross from Hugo Bolin, but could only blaze the ball over the crossbar.
That proved to be Christiansen’s last involvement, the Malmo talisman being subbed off on the hour-mark.
Dessers had another great chance to put Rangers 2-0 up on 73 minutes but, clean through on goal once again, his finish was horrible, skewed high and wide of the target.
Yet, in the end, it mattered little. Having weathered Malmo’s response, Clement’s side finally doubled their lead on 76 minutes through McCausland.
The substitute was sharp and pounced on a loose ball on the edge of the area, showing greater anticipation than the Malmo defenders around him.
Chesting the ball down, the young Northern Irish winger then drilled a good finish low into the bottom corner, the ball going in off the post as it nestled in the back of Johan Dahlin’s net for 2-0.
Rangers saw the rest of the game out without incident or any major scares.
They could have made it even more comfortable had Kasanwirjo been able to convert from Bajrami’s pass. But, nonetheless, this was the perfect start for Clement’s side.
As the heavens opened again at full-time and Rydstrom walked away from his dugout, it wasn’t just spots of rain he was wiping off his face. There was some egg to remove as well.
