Saved the day, tactics triumped and Gers are still in it...
appeared to be verbal rather than physical. Eventually man-handled from the pitch by stewards, some of his fellow supporters in the family stand pelted him with various objects for his trouble, with a few drinks containers also flying in the direction of the assistant referee behind the goal.
3 Miraculous McGregor Back to the football. If Rangers were to get anything from this match, it was a pretty fair bet that they would need Allan McGregor to bring off a save or two.
In fact, he was far busier than that, with a display which must have driven Karl Ekambi, Villarreal’s Cameroonian striker, to distraction.
For all his physical gifts – he has pace to burn, height and strength – Ekambi isn’t the most efficient in front of goal and McGregor utterly outwitted him on two occasions when he was left with a clear run on goal, standing tall and forcing him to make the decision before getting a palm in the way. He was out quickly at the feet of the same man in the second half and got down well to a low shot from range by Mario Gaspar and substitute Samu Chukweze.
4 Tactical triumph with 10 Few around this ground expected Rangers to keep out a team of this quality when they were a man down with fully 45 minutes to play. But it wasn’t just Allan McGregor who managed to keep the Yellow Submarine at bay.
Switching to a 4-3-1-1 shape, Gerrard asked Glenn Middleton to get up and join with Morelos in attack.
While they had to let the Spaniards monopolise the ball at times, the Liverpudlian will be delighted at how infrequently his side were carved open, and they looked as likely to get the winning goal in the last 10 minutes as their hosts as first Kyle Lafferty almost surprised Fernandez with a wicked swerving shot then Middleton had a ‘goal’ chalked off for offside.
5 Alive and kicking Rangers took to the field minutes after an injury time winner from Rapid Vienna against Spartak Moscow.
While this ostensibly makes the final group match away to the Austrians more difficult, it took away the doomsday scenario where the Ibrox side could have been eliminated last night.
While they got this draw the hard way, it means that a place in the last 32 is theirs if they can take care of business in Vienna in a fortnight’s time.
While it is hardly a gimme, they might have signed for the chance to decide their destiny against a team they have beaten before. They should be at near to full strength and have looked capable of scoring goals on their travels.