SHAFT OF LIGHT IN THE GLOOM
Late Hagi strike gives Rangers big chance of progression after a low-quality affair
THERE are European glory nights guaranteed to be remembered forever. And then there are occasions like this. Ultimately, the point gleaned from an uninspiring night in Denmark may prove extremely valuable to Steven Gerrard and his Rangers team.
Should they beat Sparta Prague by two clear goals at Ibrox in three weeks’ time, they’ll almost certainly have salvaged Europa League progress from a campaign that began with back-to-back defeats.
There’s plenty to be said, too, about the resilience of a group who again battled back from going a goal down — for the ninth time in this season of defensive disasters — to secure a 1-1 draw.
But no amount of flattering talk about character, no distracting chat about the heat and noise generated by Brondby’s barmy army of home fans, could disguise the mediocrity of a middling contest.
The fact that this Rangers team can and have played with much more elan and style in European ties under Gerrard will, of course, be consolation to supporters ever hopeful of a return to form on their continental adventures.
But nobody — least of all Gerrard himself — will want to linger long over the details of a scrappy scuffle almost certain to be forgotten soon enough.
Brondby went into this tie as the only team yet to score a goal in the group stages of the Europa League.
After failing to muster a single shot on target here, they still haven’t managed to beat an opposing keeper with an actual effort on goal.
It took a Leon Balogun own goal on the stroke of halftime for the Danes to break their duck.
But their hopes of holding on for a win were wrecked by Rangers sub Ianis Hagi (right), who equalised with less than a quarter of an hour remaining — and silenced the raucous home crowd. Plenty had been said about the intensity of the atmosphere at the Brondby Stadium, with everyone from Sportsmail’s own Brian Laudrup to Gerrard’s former Liverpool team-mate Daniel Agger warning Rangers to expect something approaching bedlam in this picturesque little suburb of Copenhagen. And fair play to the seething, bouncing, chanting mass of yellow-shirted loons gathered behind the home goal from a good 90 minutes before kick-off. They didn’t lack for enthusiasm — or volume. Singing to the beat of their own drummers, with a mic’d up cantor leading the choir, they were louder than a crowd of this size had any right to be. It hardly seemed to matter what was happening on the park. Beyond whistling and jeering Rangers from the moment their players took the knee before kick-off, events in the game itself had little impact on the decibels. As Gerrard noted before kick-off here, however, atmospheres don’t win you games. That would be down to a Brondby team who, by anyone’s standards, haven’t looked particularly threatening in Europe this season. Rangers, by contrast, arrived feeling confident after banging in six goals against Motherwell at the weekend. And they thought they’d scored after just five minutes, Alfredo Morelos powering a header beyond Mads Hermansen in the home goal. But the linesman raised his flag to signal that James Tavernier’s corner kick had drifted out of play and, after a brief VAR check, the score stayed at nil-nil. Rangers were energised by coming so close, Fashion Sakala pulling a rightfooted shot wide soon afterwards, thanks to smart build-up play involving both Steven Davis and Joe Aribo.
Morelos shot wide, Aribo headed over and Connor Goldson saw a powerful header from a Borna Barisic corner cleared during a first half low on both quality and incident.
Brondby? Well, Simon Hedlund had a shot deflected for a corner and Josip Radosevic really should have hit the target — he was closer to smashing a floodlight — after a decent bit of build-up down the right.
Overall, though, they looked a team short of quality in the final third. A group of players in need of a break.
They certainly got that with just seconds to go in the first half, as an inswinging corner from the left was flicked on at the front post by Christian Cappis.
The ball landed squarely on the head of Balogun who, for reasons known only to himself, was facing his own goal. Allan McGregor had no chance.
Gerrard has been given great cause to bemoan his team’s inability to keep a clean sheet this season. As he rallied his troops at half-time, though, he clearly hoped that their resilience — they’ve come back from 1-0 down to win on four occasions this term — would shine through once more.
McGregor had to look sharp to prevent Kevin Tshiembe from doubling the home side’s lead early in the second half, however, with the former Scotland No 1 pulling off a fine save at point-blank range.
Frustrated, infuriated and possibly dumbfounded by what he was seeing, Gerrard didn’t take long to ring the changes.
With 55 minutes on the clock, he made three substitutions. It could have been eight or nine, had the rules permitted such wholesale changes.
Off came Scott Arfield, Morelos and Sakala, with Kemar Roofe, Ryan Kent — making his first appearance since limping off with a hamstring injury in September’s 2-0 home loss to Lyon — and Hagi thrown into the fray.
Former Liverpool academy product Kent at least looked threatening with the ball at his feet, constantly changing the direction of play and keeping defenders guessing.
And he was involved in the equaliser, driving at the Brondby defence before slipping a pass through for Hagi, who showed real composure to send a low, rightfooted drive beyond Hermansen.
Hagi clearly enjoyed the moment, making a gesture to show how much he was savouring the local Glee Club being quietened. For just a few moments.
The Brondby fans recovered their voices quickly enough. The same couldn’t be said about the game, which rather limped towards a tame conclusion.
Nobody tuning in would have mistaken this for a Champions League clash. In truth, it probably struggled to reach Europa Conference League levels.
But the draw gives Gerrard and his men a fighting chance, at least, of progressing in UEFA’s second tier club competition. No little consolation, on a night with little to recommend itself to the affections of the 1,400 or so travelling Rangers supporters.