Rangers lost any realistic hopes of qualifying for the Europa League as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Braga despite the Portuguese visitors playing more than 30 minutes with 10 men.
Worse, Rangers were one goal ahead when Braga star Rodrigo Jalazar was sent off, but instead of watching their lead surrender to concede a poor equalizer from Gabri Martinez, they were left holding on to a point that would do them no good in their dreams of progressing to the already distant last 16.
Danny Röhl’s side sit fourth from the bottom of their group despite picking up their first point of the season. It took a small miracle to get within five points of a playoff spot with three games remaining and nine teams to catch.
“I feel like we lost because the game was in our hands,” captain James Tavernier said. TNT Sports.
“In the final third you have to be more patient and do better than actually taking the shot, it’s a lack of concentration towards the goal.
“It’s a missed opportunity for us. We need to be more level-headed in both boxes. But I (believe we’re going in the right direction) and the boys are taking it. We’ve got to build on this and learn from it.”
Until Zalazar was red, Rangers were the better team at Ibrox and deservedly took a first-half lead thanks to Tavernier’s penalty after a VAR review awarded a handball.
That strike took Gers legend Ally McCoist to 21 European goals and everything looked rosy at that point.
It won’t last. Despite a red card following another VAR review which found Zalazar moving his head towards Nicolas Raskin during a face-off, Braga equalized just eight minutes later when Nasser Djiga misjudged a cross and provided the perfect assist for Martinez to bundle home at the back post.
Rangers’ lack of urgency to restore their advantage made the extra man even more disconcerting and was rendered irrelevant when Mohamed Diomande was crudely shown a second yellow for a careless elbow in added time.
Analysis: All shouts out to the Rangers
Sky Sports’ Adam Bini (Ibrox):
“Now Rangers are probably out of the Europa League and need to win their last three games against Ferencvaros, Ludogorets and Porto to have any chance.
“Still, 10 points is unlikely to be enough to qualify for the play-offs. Bragana Elfsborg were not enough to qualify for the competition last year, and Dinamo Zagreb were knocked out of the Champions League with 11 points.
“Five games, no wins, one point, two goals. It’s grim for a team that reached the quarter-finals last season.”
Röhl insists on ‘progress’ despite draw.
Rangers Manager Danny Roel to TNT Sports:
“Yes, of course it is 100% (it is progressing). In 60 minutes I saw a really competitive team against a team that had nine points from four games.
“We were the better team, we created more chances and we had a lot of situations where we won the ball. “Of course it’s disappointing now, but it was a big step in our development.
“It was a big moment, the throw-in, there’s no excuse for that, but it’s always difficult in the second half with the wind. There’s no question about our progress today. We came from 3-0, 2-0 (lost) and played well for 60-65 minutes today.”
