GERRARD JOY AT RANGERS FIGHTBACK
IF THE flight here amid the gusts of Storm Ali had left Steven Gerrard with ‘sweaty palms’ as he called it, then the turbulence of this thrilling contest would have had his hands wringing wet and his shirt soaked through. Much like Wednesday’s journey, Gerrard must have felt like adopting the brace position when Villarreal opened the scoring after just 43 seconds. He had not even left his seat when Carlos Bacca hit a stunning opener from 25 yards. It was the first time Rangers had trailed in Europe having negotiated four two-legged qualifiers, but slip up they refused to do in the land of the ceramic tile and twice they came from behind to claim a deserved point.
Gerrard was glistening when he came to reflect, a combination of shredded nerves and pride the source of his glow. ‘I am very proud,’ he said. ‘We had the worst possible start and the message at half-time was that we needed more belief and courage. From half-time we had that. It was a crazy end and we could have won it, then we could have lost it.’ No Rangers team had ever won away to Spanish opponents in 12 attempts —
Gerrard used that in his team-talk — and Scott Arfield could have made history when striding clear in injury time only to poke straight at the keeper. Earlier, Arfield had cancelled out Bacca’s opener when turning in on 67 minutes but Gerard Moreno smashed the hosts back in front within 120 seconds. But Gerrard has instilled a never-say-die spirit in his men and they levelled on 76 minutes after a breathtaking counter finished by Kyle Lafferty at the near post. Arfield was then denied and, at the other end, Bacca headed inches wide with seconds left on the clock. Gerrard, then, will be relieved that Rangers have taken off in Europe.
LeIGh GRIFFIThS is determined to win back his place in the starting XI after coming off the bench to give Celtic a vital europa League victory against Rosenborg. Scott Brown’s long ball was nodded across the box by Dedryck Boyata and Griffiths — who signed a new four-year deal last week — nodded home in the 87th minute. Odsonne edouard started in place of Griffiths, who told BT Sport: ‘I want to be the No 1 striker, there’s no doubt about that. But I have fierce competition from Odsonne. ‘he is a great player, a young lad with bags of potential and he’s playing well.’