Captain Barry Ferguson stressed that the second-half improvement from Rangers made the final result about right.
"I thought we deserved to get through in the end," Ferguson said.
"All credit to Nacho Novo. He had a good chance and he stuck it away. We're just delighted to get through."
Ferguson played his part in the goal, feeding the ball across field to Chris Burke on the right flank from where the substitute rifled in a pacy cross.
Panathinaikos failed to deal with the delivery and Novo drove the ball home.
"It was a pretty good build-up," said Ferguson.
"I got the ball over to Burkey and he put in a great cross and Nacho was there to put the ball away.
"Nacho got a bit of criticism after the first leg, but all credit to him, the wee man stuck it away last night."
Ferguson also praised Kris Boyd, who made his first start in Europe since July, having been so often a frustrated substitute on the big Champions League nights.
"I thought Boydy did ever so well," Ferguson said. "He worked hard. He'll maybe be a bit disappointed not to get on the scoresheet but he did a great job up there."
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