LATE goals from Nacho Novo and Filip Sebo have given Rangers a tremendous 2-0 win in today's glamour friendly against Premiership giants Chelsea at Ibrox.

Novo, a second-half substitute for Kris Boyd, hit the net on 85 minutes with a blistering drive from 20 yards beyond Carlo Cudicini before Sebo, who also came off the bench, fired in an incredible effort - albeit with the aid of a deflection - from a tight angle minutes later to seal a memorable win.

The Rangers fans were singing with delight after the final whistle and it proved the perfect workout for Walter Smith's men ahead of Tuesday night's Champions League qualifier against Zeta.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho named a star-studded starting eleven while Gers' boss Walter Smith stuck by his word by fielding arguably his strongest team..

England's John Terry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole joined Didier Drogba and Andriy Shevchenko in the Londoner's new electric yellow away kit for the kick-off.

Smith, meanwhile, elected for a 4-4-2 formation with Alan Hutton, Davie Weir, Carlos Cuellar and Sasa Papac playing in front of Allan McGregor.

Captain Barry Ferguson, Brahim Hemdani, Charlie Adam and Lee McCulloch made up the midfield quartet with Jean-Clade Darcheville and Kris Boyd spearheading the attack.

A packed Ibrox Stadium applauded both sets of players prior to kick-off but the visitors almost silenced after only 20 seconds with a lightning quick move.

Shevchenko picked the ball up on the left and squared the ball to Steve Sidwell but the former Reading midfielder shot went wide of target.

Three minutes later and it was Rangers that should have taken an early lead.

Davie Weir found Kris Boyd with a long pass behind the Chelsea backline but the prolific hitman's control took him wide and Cech was there to save his effort.

It was clear from the start of this match that this was going to be a high-tempo, British style of game despite so many foreigners on show and the pace showed no signs of slowing down with both every player on the pitch desperate to secure a place in their manager's plans ahead of the new SPL and Premiership seasons.

Carlos Cuellar has already showed his talent to the Gers' support with his man-of-the match display against Ajax and he was again looking confident and assured up against the £40m strikeforce of Drogba and Shevchenko.

The competitive nature of this friendly was evident on 25 minutes when Barry brought down Florent Malouda from the back and Drogba pushed the Gers' captain before being roundly booed by the Ibrox faithful.

Apart from the two early opportunities chances in front of goal were few and far between up until the half-hour mark with Terry provided a steadying influence at the back for Chelsea although Darcheville was causing the England captain a few headaches.

The match looked set to ignite again on 34 minutes when Malouda got a bit of revenge on Ferguson with a late tackle and referee Stuart Dougal had to intervene as several players had words.

While the action on the pitch was heating up the atmosphere in the four stands was tremendous with the Chelsea and Rangers supporters clearly enjoying each others company.

The first-half, however, was to end goalless despite Malouda firing a terrific 25-yard effort inches wide of McGregor's goal on the 42nd minute.

Both managers were to make wholesale changes to their teams for the start of the second-half and Smith made a tactical change by altering his formation to a 4-5-1 with McCulloch up front as a lone striker.

Nacho Novo on the right was clearly out to impress on the right and the Spaniard was immediately in the thick of the action and linking well with McCulloch at every given opportunity.

As expected the pace of the game died as the subs got settled into the match and there were further changes after the hour mark with Filip Sebo replacing McCulloch and Ashley Cole on for Glen Johnson.

Sebo was greeted by a rapturous applause but after a minute of being on he was clobbered by John Terry and referee Dougal had no option but to issue the defender with a yellow card.

The Slovakian was clearly in the mood but once again his finishing let him down on 66 minutes when Novo sent him clear on goal but his effort, with only Cudicini to beat, was poor to say the least.

Chelsea's defending had Mourinho off his bench and he got a reaction from his players moments later when they could have found the net themselves.

Wright-Phillips picked the ball up on the right side of the 18-yard box and his cutback found Pizarro.

The striker, who was linked with a move to Ibrox, had his close-range shot blocked by Andy Webster before Roy Carroll made a confident stop from a scorching Obi Mikel shot from 20-yards.

The game looked to be finishing goalless but Novo and Sebo stepped up and made it a truly memorable day for the Rangers fans at the death.

RANGERS: McGregor (Carroll 45), Hutton (Murray 45), Weir (Webster 45), Papac (Broadfoot 45), Ferguson, Hemdani, Boyd (Novo 45), Adam (Burke 81), Darcheville (Beasley 45), Cuellar, McCulloch (Sebo 62)

Subs: Smith, Thomson, Sionko, Gow, Burke,

CHELSEA: Cech (Cudicini 45), Johnson (Cole 62), Terry, Tal Ben Haim, Diarra (Carvalho 45), J. Cole (Mikel 46), Lampard, Sidwell, Malouda (Wright-Phillips 45), Shevchenko (Pizarro 45), Drogba (Sinclair 70)

Subs: Hilario, Cole, Ferreira, Hutchinson

Referee: Stuart Dougal

Attn: 50,380