RANGERS paid a heavy price for their lack of ruthlessness tonight as they lost to Benfica in the second leg of their Europa League last 16 double header at Ibrox, knocking them out of the competition.
Philippe Clement’s side, who had drawn the first leg 2-2 in Lisbon last week, did more than enough to beat Roger Schmidt’s star-studded side over the course of the 90 minutes and progress to the quarter-finals .
However, they failed to convert the scoring chances they created going forward and the Portuguese champions hit them with a sucker punch in the 66th minute when Rafa Silva scored on the breakaway.
It was a brutal end to a European campaign in which they topped their group. Here are five talking points from the bitterly disappointing result.
Early birds
The 5.45pm kick-off given to this meeting due to commitments from UEFA broadcasters irritated Rangers and their thousands of followers.
Yet that didn’t stop a sell-out crowd pouring through the turnstiles, creating a raucous and raucous atmosphere at the famous old Govan ground.
There were quite a few disciples of the visitors in the corner between the Broomloan Stand and the Sandy Jardine Stand – the tournament organizers stipulate that the away side should receive five percent of the ticket allocation – and that didn’t help matters one bit.
But the Bears certainly rose to the occasion. Nicolas Otamendi and his teammates were hit by a wall of noise as they emerged from the tunnel.
Fabio Silva gestured for them to raise the decibel level after Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin allowed a Tom Lawrence shot to go out of play for a corner. But he didn’t really need that.
During the first half there was a minute of applause in memory of the fan who died in Lisbon last week – and there was plenty of clapping for the spectators in the park.
Tavernier and his teammates controlled possession, albeit without creating many clear-cut chances in the final third, and were comfortably the better of the two sides.
When one team dominates like this and doesn’t score, they always run the risk of paying the price and conceding on the counter. That’s exactly what happened. Benfica broke from their own half, Silva came through one-on-one with Jack Butland and kept his composure.
Very strong Butland
No Rangers player has represented England since the legendary Paul Gascoigne did so in 1997.
But it was still a surprise when Butland was today left out of Gareth Southgate’s national squad for the friendlies against Brazil and Belgium later this month.
Everton’s Jordan Pickford is very much his country’s first-choice goalkeeper. But neither Crystal Palace’s Sam Johnstone nor Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsdale have played with the same regularity or consistency as Butland this season.
The nine-times capped 31-year-old has certainly performed excellently against Aris Limassol, Real Betis and Sparta Prague in the Europa League in recent months.
He is said to have been determined to do the same again tonight and show Southgate what he is missing after his England recall failed to materialise.
Butland was tested early on when Fredrik Aursnes tried his luck from distance. It was a bread and butter saver under normal circumstances. But the slippery surface made it a challenge and he did well to keep the score up. He held on to Casper Tengstedt’s shot in the second half and tipped Alexander Bah’s effort past his post.
He couldn’t do anything about the goal.
The Wright thing
The loss of Dujon Sterling, who scored his first goal in senior football at the Estadio da Luz last week, to injury was a blow for Clement.
Ross McCausland, another man who suffered a blow in Sunday’s Scottish Gas Scottish Cup quarter-final win over Hibernian at Easter Road, was not deemed fit enough to start.
That offered Scott Wright an unexpected opportunity on the right flank.
The Scot has not been a regular starter for Rangers this season. The only European match he had played in from kick-off before tonight was the defeat to Aris in Cyprus in October. However, he has a wealth of experience on the continent.
Wright helped the Ibrox club come from behind to beat RB Leipzig in the Europa League semi-final two years ago after Kemar Roofe was ruled out.
He caused trouble from the first whistle. He did well to step on a Silva chip and move into the six-yard box early on and then force Aursnes to concede a corner. He continued after receiving medical attention for a blow to the head and shot over the bar after half an hour.
He did excellently to set up Cyriel Dessers on the tee for a shot early in the second half and the striker was unlucky to have his effort deflected wide of Aursnes. He was cheered when he was replaced by Rabbi Matondo.
Clinical Benfica
Benfica manager Schmidt is currently under pressure from fans despite his team sitting second in the Primeira Liga, just one point behind leaders Sporting Lisbon.
Losing 5-0 to Porto did not go down well with the Eagles diehards.
The German brought on Danish forward Tengstedt for Brazilian striker Leonardo at the start of the second half and then replaced David Neres with Orkun Kokcu in the hope that this would spark his men into life.
They took the lead against the run of play with 24 minutes of regular time remaining after a VAR check showed winger Silva had not been offside.
If you don’t take your chances
Clement has not been happy with the injuries he has had to deal with since arriving in Glasgow and it was easy to see why tonight. Rangers have acquitted themselves admirably throughout. However, they lacked an edge in attack.
Would it have been a different story if Oscar Cortes, Danilo, Abdallah Sima or Sterling had played? Matondo took over from Wright, Todd Cantwell replaced Lawrence and Roofe replaced Dessers in the closing stages. But they couldn’t make a difference.
It was only the third defeat their Belgian manager suffered in Scotland.