Wright and Rangers fans light up Lyon
LYON’S spectacular annual Fete des Lumieres saw the landmarks of this French city illuminated in a riot of colour this week. By contrast, the Groupama Stadium was the venue for a largely drab affair. The kind you would expect from a Europa League dead rubber with nothing at stake.
But the one moment that did genuinely light up this contest was provided by Rangers. Dazzling attacking play down the left flank in the first half by Ryan Kent and Glen Kamara led to the opening goal by Scott Wright.
It was a moment of quality that was savoured by the small band of travelling Rangers fans, who had initially been banned from the city centre by French authorities due to policing demands of the local festival.
After finding out just 48 hours before kick-off that they could attend, they held their own pyrotechnics show inside the ground.
Ultimately, though, the visiting supporters were not to get the victory they craved after Calvin Bassey deflected into his own net in the second half.
However, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s changed side did manage to end the 100 per cent Europa League Group A record of their illustrious hosts while maintaining the unbeaten record of the new Ibrox boss.
With one eye on Sunday’s Premiership trip to Tynecastle to face Hearts, the Dutchman made six alterations from the side that beat Dundee 3-0 at
Ibrox on Saturday. Out dropped Allan McGregor, captain James Tavernier, Joe Aribo, Scott Arfield, Fashion Sakala and Alfredo Morelos. In came Jon McLaughlin, Nathan Patterson, John Lundstram, Wright, Kent and Kemar Roofe.
Peter Bosz, whose Lyon side sit a disappointing 12th in the French top flight, rested players too. But there was a familiar face for Rangers in the form of exCeltic striker Moussa Dembele.
A regular scorer against Rangers during his time in Scotland, Dembele looked set to inflict damaging deja vu on the Ibrox side when he was played in on goal by former Liverpool attacker Xherdan Shaqiri. But on this occasion Dembele’s first touch was poor. His weak, shanked shot wide was even worse.
Rangers struggled to trouble the Lyon defence early on. But they threatened when Kent’s clever through ball was met first time by Roofe, whose early shot clipped the outside of the post.
Lyon were targeting Rangers with long balls over the top. Straight away, the French side raced up to the other end and Karl Toko Ekambi caused consternation when he burst into the box after McLaughlin had questionably punched the ball out under pressure from Dembele. But the overly elaborate Ekambi was unable to find the space he needed to get a shot away and the chance was lost.
By now Rangers were growing into the game and Borna Barisic tried his luck from the edge of the box after good work from Wright, but his shot with his weaker right foot was straight at Lyon keeper Julian Pollersbeck.
With four minutes of the first half left, Rangers took the lead after some exquisite play. Kent, the most dangerous visiting player, chipped a lovely ball into the path of Kamara on the left side of the box. The Finland international made a fool out of Hugo Vogel, twisting and leaving him for dead on the goal-line before finding Wright at the edge of the box.
The former Aberdeen winger’s shot took a big deflection off Damien Da Silva and flew past Pollersbeck.
Visibly growing in confidence, Wright then tried a shot with his right foot but it sailed over the bar. But Lyon were level three minutes after the break. Teenager Rayan Cherki broke away down the right and his dangerous cross was deflected into his own net by Bassey. After a brief VAR check, the goal was confirmed.
Tino Kadewere then thought he had scored but his curling shot from the edge of the box found the far side of McLaughlin’s post. And there was a let-off for Rangers when Castello Lukeba squandered a great chance to head Lyon into a lead from six yards.
With the result not going to impact on the final group positions, the game began to peter out as both teams made substitutions. But there were some moments of danger for Rangers when they were sluggish at defending corner kicks.
First, Da Silva’s header was deflected wide and then Lukeba saw an effort kicked off the line by substitute Steven Davis.
The arrival of Joe Aribo from the bench livened up the latter stages of a game that was badly fizzling out. In a breathtaking final 30 seconds, the Ibrox attacker almost burst in behind the Lyon defence. In the final move of the match, Patterson was robbed by Kadewere, who bore down on goal. But the Rangers youngster was bailed out by his keeper McLaughlin, who saved an admittedly tame shot from the Lyon attacker.
The last time Rangers had been in competitive action in this part of the world, they recorded arguably the club’s best modernday result on European soil.
In October 2007, goals from Lee McCulloch, Daniel Cousin and DaMarcus Beasley in the old Stade Gerland secured a jaw-dropping 3-0 Champions League win over the seven-in-arow French champions boasting talent like Karim Benzema, Fabio Grosso and free-kick expert Juninho Pernambucano.
Walter Smith’s Kings of Lyon ultimately missed out on the knockouts but they dropped down into the UEFA Cup. In a remarkable adventure, Rangers then went all the way to the final in Manchester, losing 2-0 to Zenit St Petersburg.
A draw here was a fair result and Van Bronckhorst will be pleased by the positive result and performance by his Ibrox side staffed with fringe players.
The Rangers Class of 2021-22 could yet follow in the footsteps of the late Smith’s side in 2007-08 by facing Zenit in this competition.
Atalanta, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Leipzig, Porto, Sevilla and Sheriff Tiraspol are the other possible opponents in Monday’s Europa League draw.
LYON (4-2-3-1): Pollersbeck 6; Vogel 5 (Dubois 62), Da Silva 6, Lukeba 6, Henrique 6; Caqueret 6 (Guimaraes 76), Keita 6; Cherki 6, Shaqiri 5 (Aouar 62), Ekambi 4 (Kadewere 44); Dembele 6 (Slimani 76). Subs not used: Lopes, Emerson, Gusto, Mendes, Boateng, Bonnevie, Barcola. Booked: None. RANGERS (4-2-3-1): McLaughlin 6; Paterson 6, Goldson 6, Bassey 6, Barisic 6; Lundstram 6, Kamara 6 (Davis 46); Wright 6 (Arfield 61), Hagi 6 (Bacuna 61), Kent 7; Roofe 6 (Aribo 73). Subs not used: McGregor, Tavernier, Kelly, McCrorie. Booked: Patterson. Man of the Match: Ryan Kent. Referee: Radu Petrescu (Romania). Attendance: N/A.