THE front page of Le Quotidien, one of Luxembourg’s three national newspapers, said it all. “Dansez Maintenant [Everybody dance now]!,” it read, above pictures of the Progres Niederkorn players and backroom staff cavorting around the Josy Barthel Stadium.

While Scotland woke up this morning to equal parts recrimination and gloating, in Luxembourg there was the simple joyful celebration of one of the finest results in the Grand Duchy’s dubious footballing history. “They’ve done it,” the sports section declared. “Progres were maybe the only ones who believed they could beat Glasgow, but they were right,” read the editorial.

Alexis Lafon, part of the victorious Progres side on the night, told Herald Sport last night that this was a giant leap for Luxembourgish football. The club’s players and fans had gone back to the Niederkorn stadium to celebrate with a few impromptu beers and a barbecue after a result, which in his opinion, outranked even FC Dudelange’s Champions League qualifying win against Red Bull Salzburg a few seasons back in the footballing annals of this tiny landlocked state in Western Europe.

“Even though Rangers are reconstructing right now and it probably was the best moment to meet them, you have to say it is the biggest result any Luxembourg-based club has been able to achieve,” Lafon said. “This win is phenomenal for us, quite hard to believe.

“It was something we were hoping for but didn’t quite expect so we did party a little bit with the fans at the stadium, we all went back to the Niederkorn stadium where we had a couple of beers and a barbecue,” he added. “It was a great reception, really simple, that is just the way the club acts. We don’t want to brag about it but we still achieved something really huge so we had to celebrate – without going too stupid because we obviously have another game [against Cypriot opponents Limassol] next week.”

Just how bad this result was in the grand scheme of things was already being debated in the pubs and watering holes of Glasgow and beyond last night. Even in the global media village of Wimbledon it was something of a topic de jour.

While it is true to say that Progres are only the fourth side in Luxembourg – the “big” three are Dudelange, Differdange and Fola Esch (the outfit who were beaten by Aberdeen at this stage last season) – they have invested extra cash in the team in an attempt to kick on this season.

While it is also true to say their players have semi-professional status, they have been training four times a week since June 14. While some of their players have day jobs on the side, or are students, the tax advantages of Luxembourg mean that they can pick up a fairly healthy salary from the club in the range of €50,000 a year. While Lafon didn’t feel the Rangers players or management had been disrespectful or had underestimated them, he was surprised to find, considering the Ibrox players have been back in training nine days longer, that his side appeared to have the ege in fitness.

“I wouldn’t say we were surprised by the victory because after the game in Glasgow we had it in the back of our mind that we could do something,” said the 31-year-old left winger, who was born in France but has family connections to Sunderland. “We knew that the heat wouldn’t help Rangers and that would work to our advantage and we wanted to keep the same kind of play from the first game, just staying strong in defence and trying to convert whatever chances came our way.”