GERS’ WORST RESULTS
2008: FBK Kaunas 2, Rangers 1. Champions League 2nd Rd Qualifier. Just 83 days after Rangers reached the UEFA Cup Final, they crashed to a horrendous defeat after losing a lead against the Baltic minnows, who netted the winner with four minutes to go. 2007: Rangers 0, Lyon 3. Champions League
group stage. It was hard to believe the Ibrox side had won 3-0 in France with goals from Lee McCulloch, Daniel Cousin and DaMarcus Beasley. But they were outclassed in Glasgow as Lyon coasted it. 1996: Grasshoppers 3, Rangers 0. Champions
League group stage. Rangers went into this match after a 10-3 aggregate qualifying win over Russian side Vladikavkaz. The Swiss burst their bubble, netting past Andy Goram three times. 1995: Rangers 0, Juventus 4. Champions League
group stage. Another night to forget in Glasgow as the Italians went goal crazy. Billy Thomson had to pick the ball out of the net four times in a one-sided affair. The Ibrox men had lost 4-1 in the first game in Turin. 1987: Rangers 0, Hamilton 1. Scottish Cup 3rd Rd. The Graeme Souness revolution finished with a first title success for nine years – but not before John Lambie’s side – who would finish bottom of the SPL – stunned Gers with an Adrian Sprott strike. 1967: Berwick Rangers 1,
Rangers 0. Scottish Cup 1st Rd. Sammy Reid’s goal sent the holders crashing out of the tournament. Ibrox strikers Jim Forrest and George McLean never played again for the club and Berwick keeper Jock Wallace later became Rangers boss. 1957: Celtic 7, Rangers 1.
League Cup Final. Billy Mcphail netted a hattrick in the humiliation. Sammy Wilson opened the scoring in the 23rd minute with Neil Mochan adding a second before McPhail’s treble. Mochan added another and Willie Fernie slotted in a penalty. Billy Simpson got Rangers’ consolation. It could have been worse – Celtic hit the woodwork three times. PEDRO CAIXINHA admitted last night the UNTHINKABLE had just happened.
The Portuguese boss made it crystal clear he had just witnessed the worst 90 minutes of his managerial career and he accepted full responsibility.
For the Rangers fans, it was every bit as painful.
Losing in the first round of the Europa League qualifying was bad enough but the manner of the gutless loss and the standard of the opposition just added to the deep pain.
Caixinha didn’t attempt to dress it up.
He accepted he and the players had let themselves and their supporters down badly.
Caixinha hinted at one point that his team had perhaps underestimated Progres.
He tried to backtrack on that one later in the conversation, but something was clearly amiss because Rangers had flopped appallingly.
Not just the worst result in their history in Europe but also a strong contender for Scotland’s worst ever.
The crime sheet was totting up as Caixinha said: “The unthinkable happened. It is something that only happens once in a lifetime.
“It is totally the worst result of my managerial career and I accept all the responsibility for that happened.
“I don’t have the answers as to why the players didn’t perform.
“I told the players at half-time that we were not respecting the opponent.
“You cannot afford to do that. We allowed them to start believing and they realised they could harm us.
“We conceded silly set-pieces which led to both goals. I’m not going to talk about the chances we had or hitting the woodwork.
“They scored two goals and that’s all that counts.”
Such was the enormity of the nightmare, Caixinha felt a need to instantly break a personal rule at full-time.
As he started to absorb the sheer magnitude of the disaster which had just unfolded in Luxembourg, it was time for immediate action.
Gaffer Caixinha normally refrains from speaking to his players directly after a game.
Last night, though, things were different.
Rangers had been embarrassed, humiliated and put out of Europe by a team who never previously won a single game in Europe.
The players were slaughtered as they left the pitch by disgruntled travelling fans and no wonder.
Some of those same supporters were gathering outside the exits to the Stade-Josy Barthel at that stage waiting to deliver their verdict again loudly and directly towards the boss and his group. So Caixinha broke