THE NIGHT THAT
Rangers make final on a wave of emotion at Ibrox
(Rangers win 3-2 on aggregate)
WHEN three minutes of stoppage time were over, Ibrox was almost swept away by a tsunami of joy. Grown men hugged and lost their shape. RB Leipzig players fell to their backs, staring at the Glasgow sky. At the end of a week when Rangers mourned their long-serving kitman Jimmy Bell, emotions ran high.
History doesn’t always repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes. Fifty years to the month since Rangers saw off a star-studded Bayern Munich team featuring Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller, Paul Breitner and Sepp Maier to reach the final of the Cup Winners Cup, they sealed a place in their fifth European final by quelling another German opponent in the last four. Let the scramble now begin for flights, tickets and accommodation.
Rangers are now headed for the Europa League final in Seville in two weeks’ time where they will meet Eintracht Frankfurt, their third Bundesliga opponents in a remarkable run. On the evidence of the last two, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his team should fear no one.
A team assembled for £200million, RB Leipzig proved nothing special in the end. Despite Christopher Nkunku’s 32nd goal of the season, threatening extratime and possibly penalties, Rangers would not be denied.
Six months ago, you’d have got long odds on John Lundstram being one of the heroes of the season. Signed on a free transfer from Sheffield United, the English midfielder has flourished in recent weeks. And with ten minutes to play, he claimed the goal which sealed a trip to Spain in a fortnight.
The impetus — as with the goal which fired Rangers into an early lead — came from the superb Ryan Kent.
Gathering James Tavernier’s free-kick on the left touchline, the winger twisted and turned before lofting a cross into the six yard area. Keeper Peter Gulacsi was lost at sea as the ball bounced off the back of a defender and fell perfectly for Lundstram to slot into the net.
Leading 3-2 on aggregate with time running out, Rangers were almost there.
Leading 2-0 after 23 minutes, a wobble was inevitable. It came with 20 minutes to play when Nkunku volleyed Angelino’s swirling cross brilliantly past Allan McGregor seconds after the veteran keeper’s heroic save from Konrad Laimer. For a time, the striker’s eleventh goal in 12 European games threatened to change the narrative.
Lundstram’s close-range strike sent Ibrox into paroxysms of joy and relief.
A moment’s silence before kickoff to honour long-serving club kitman Jimmy Bell was the only time the incessant din around a frenzied Ibrox relented all night.
The old place exploded after 18 minutes. Over the years, James Tavernier has had his ups and downs as Rangers captain. In this season’s Europa League, he has been a force of nature.
Right-backs are not supposed to finish top scorer in European competitions. There has been a penalty or two along the way, of course, but Tavernier’s seventh goal in the tournament showed the timing and instincts of a predatory striker.
The spark came from the deftest of flicks on the left touchline from Glen Kamara, the Finn nudging the ball into the path of Kent.
Surging towards the penalty area, the winger drove a left foot cross through the legs of defender Willi Orban. Timing his run perfectly at the back post, Tavernier slammed the ball into the net from close range.
He has now scored in every knock-out game at Ibrox. And every time he does, the old ground shakes to its foundations.
Rangers should have had the tie dead and buried inside half an hour. The Scottish champions — still — surged two ahead after 23 minutes, the home support almost disbelieving of what they were seeing when Kamara — hardly a prolific scorer of goals — claimed his first Europa League strike in 13 attempts.
Leipzig’s insistence on playing out from the back cost them when Josko Gvardiol was dispossessed in a dangerous area. Pinned to the touchline, Joe Aribo fed Scott Wright with his back to goal. A surprise inclusion, the former Aberdeen winger showed intelligence to lay it off perfectly for Kamara to pass the ball low into the far corner from 18 yards.
With Alfredo Morelos or Kemar Roofe in attack, the team in blue would have claimed a third. Forced to field Aribo as a false nine in place of his main strikers, Van Bronckhorst had cause to rue that situation when the Nigerian international — a terrific footballer — wasted a glorious chance to make it 3-0.
A probing Borna Barisic cross towards the back post was knocked down by the head of Tavernier towards the right foot of Aribo. All the midfielder had to do was guide the ball towards the net from no more than eight yards. Instead, he swiped it wildly into the air. Even then, you wondered if that miss might cost Rangers. One goal for Leipzig would drag the game to extratime and the Bundesliga side had scored in all of their European games this season, hitting 24 goals in 11 outings. On foreign soil alone, they beat Real Sociedad 3-1 and Atalanta 2-0 after drawing at home.
In the Champions League, they thumped Club Brugge 5-0 in Belgium and scored three in defeat at Man City. They had half chances in a ropey first half, but nothing to scare the horses.
Orban had two decent openings with headers from set-pieces. He failed to hit the target with either. Before half-time, Angelino’s thundering free-kick seemed to knock Aribo out cold and forced the groggy midfielder off the pitch to be replaced by Fashion Sakala.
Already missing Morelos and Roofe, Van Bronckhorst was now down to the bare bones. And the loss of Ryan Jack to injury midway through the second half was the last thing he needed.
With Rangers ahead on aggregate, it made perfect sense