While Rangers stuttered during a tough assignment at Tynecastle, their Europa League rivals Porto enjoyed a much easier reintroduction to action following the international break.
They were in Taca de Portugal action against third-tier Coimbroes.
The standard of the opposition meant that coach, Sergio Conceicao, could afford to rest key players ahead of the Gers visit to the esteemed European fortress, the Estadio do Dragao, on Thursday evening.
Nonetheless, the cup outing was a productive one for the blue and whites.
A large number of travelling supporters braved foul conditions to attend the game and they were treated to their side going 3-0 up within 12 minutes.
Colombia winger Luis Diaz opened the scoring with a well-taken finish after six minutes, before a seemingly shell-shocked Coimbroes defence allowed Tiquinho and Chancel Mbemba, who recently claimed Rangers were interested in signing him [Daily Record], to extend the early lead.
The hosts managed to restore some calm at the back thereafter, though, seeing it through to half-time without conceding further.
After the hour mark, Luis Diaz rounded the keeper to score his second, before 17-year-old Fabio Silva became the youngster player to ever score for the club.
A convincing win against lowly opposition, then, which now means Porto have won their last eight domestic matches, keeping a clean sheet in all but one.
Rangers will be coming up against an in-form side with a frugal defence on Thursday night and they’ll need to be at their very best to get something from this one.