The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Gers are left with a mountain to climb
Rangers fail to cope with step up in class against top German side
Rangers are on the brink of Europa League elimination after crashing 3-1 to Bayer Leverkusen at Ibrox.
Steven Gerrard’s team were hoping to make the most of their noisy home support before travelling to next week’s closed-door clash at the BayArena.
It remains to be seen if that game will even go ahead as the coronavirus crisis continues to sweep Europe – Tuesday’s Uefa meeting of European football stakeholders about the coronavirus should make the landscape clearer – but, if it does, Rangers have a mountain to climb.
Kai Havertz’s VAR-sanctioned penalty just before half-time and a secondhalf strike from Chilean international Charles Aranguiz put Peter Bosz’s impressive Bundesliga outfit in charge.
George Edmundson’s header raised hopes Rangers could complete another rescue mission, but they were snuffed out by Leon Bailey’s late clincher.
It was immediately obvious this was a step up for the confidence-striken Light Blues.
Leverkusen were just as comfortable on the ball as Braga were in the last round but, unlike the Portuguese side, had no obvious flaws in defence.
Borna Barisic had to put in a brave block on Karim Bellarabi just nine minutes in before Glen Kamara copped a booking for a foul on Mitchell Weiser which rules him out of the return.
Kerem Demirbay probed for a chink in Rangers’ armour, but it was a cruel call that eventually gave Leverkusen their lead eight minutes before halftime.
Edmundson did his best to hide his arm as Charles Aranguiz whipped in a cross from the right, but under Fifa’s strict definition it was a handball.
Gerrard hoped the incident had been missed, but once the VAR officials called Polish referee Szymon Marciniak over to the touchline in front of the Main Stand to view the pitch-side monitor there was no hiding it, and Leverkusen skipper
Havertz coolly rolled the ball down the middle as Allan McGregor dived left.
Ibrox appealed for their own helping hand from the video officials moments later when a Goldson header was blocked by Jonathan Tah, but it was ruled to have hit the defender’s back.
Gerrard had toyed with the idea of starting Florian Kamberi but stuck by Alfredo Morelos instead, despite the Colombian’s six-game scoring drought.
The Light Blues boss did introduce the Swiss striker for Joe Aribo seven minutes after the restart.
James Tavernier then rolled in Morelos but the striker drew a blank as Lukas Hradecky palmed wide.
It then took a vital Tah intervention to deny the striker after Kamberi did well to rob Edmond Tapsoba.
Aranguiz thought he had scored on 66 minutes with a hook shot until Steve Davis headed off his own line.
His celebrations were only delayed by seconds as he smashed a loose Tavernier clearance past McGregor.
Rangers had fought back from twodown to stun Braga, and hopes of another remarkable comeback were sparked with quarter of an hour left as Edmundson was left unmarked to nod home from a Tavernier corner.
The comeback might have been on had a Barisic free-kick not crept just over the Germans’ bar. But Gers’ dreams were crushed two minutes from time when Bailey tormented substitute Matt Polster before scoring.