GROUP G
0 Rangers captain James Tavernier and Rapid Vienna’s Boli Bollinger during last night’s Europa League clash in Austria. It was far from a
first-half chances as Rangers failed to take the extra bit of care with their final ball that was necessary on the squishy surface.
Rapid were happy with the
stalemate so the onus was on Rangers to roll the dice in search of the breakthrough.
Lassana Coulibaly tried his luck with a lob but watched it sail over, but it was increasingly the home side who were looking the happier as the minutes ticked away.
Gerrard made his move with 19 minutes left as he introduced Eros Grezda for Coulibaly before swapping Kyle Lafferty for Ryan Jack shortly afterwards.
Tavernier stung Strebinger’s fingers from the edge of the box but Alfredo Morelos was too late to pounce on the rebound.
And Rangers’ hopes were finally killed off six minutes from time as Ljubicic sealed Rapid’s place in the knockout stages.
Allan Mcgregor fired a kick-out straight to Venton Berisha, who fed the ball to the substitute. He played a one-two around Gareth Mcauley with Christoph Knasmullner before poking the ball into the corner of the net to leave Rangers deflated.