Ten-man Rangers salvaged a goalless draw with Athletic Club in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League quarter-final at Ibrox. Liam Kelly was the hero, saving an 82nd-minute penalty from Alex Berenguer on his first start in this season’s competition.
After another Scottish title failure and a cup elimination against lower league opponents, a Rangers side now solely targeting the Europa League were expected to start robustly.
Unfortunately for the 2022 Europa League runners-up, Robin Propper followed the memo a bit too closely, finding himself dismissed after 12 minutes.
His foul on Nico Williams initially only brought a yellow card out of Istvan Kovacs’ pocket. However, to the Dutch defender’s dismay, VAR saw the punishment upgraded to a straight red card for denying a clear scoring opportunity.
Despite now playing with 10 men, Rangers railed and nearly broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute, as Cyriel Dessers’ fierce effort flew narrowly wide of Julen Agirrezabala’s right-hand post.
But although Athletic then piled on the pressure throughout the rest of the first half, their numerical upper hand only led to two quick-fire shots on target.
First, Kelly tipped Maroan Sannadi’s strike over the bar before the Scotsman confidently kept hold of Oihan Sancet’s header from the resulting corner.
There was further frustration for Sannadi just before the hour mark too, as he inexplicably skied an effort high into the stands, despite being unmarked in front of goal with only Kelly to beat.
That glaring miss initially appeared to have been rendered academic in the 76th minute, with Berenguer apparently firing the visitors ahead with a sublime strike.
However, VAR took centre stage again, disallowing the effort after discovering an offside in the build-up – though there was a penalty awarded for a Dujon Sterling handball in the area.
Berenguer took it upon himself to stare down Kelly, but the latter prevailed, with his legs sending the kick over.
While there were ultimately no goals here in Glasgow, despite Athletic being gifted 12 minutes of stoppage time, there was no shortage of entertainment or drama tonight.
Rangers now prepare to touch down in the Basque country, and will do so as clear underdogs, as they look to atone for their heartbreak of 2022 and reach a semi-final against either Manchester United or Olympique Lyonnais.
