Rangers let any lingering realistic hope of Europa League progression slip through their fingers as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Braga, despite their Portuguese visitors playing more than half an hour with 10 men.<\/p>\n
Worse still, Rangers were a goal ahead at the time of Braga star man Rodrigo Zalazar’s dismissal on the hour mark, but instead of seeing out their lead capitulated to allow a poor equaliser from Gabri Martinez, and were left to hold on to a point which does nothing to aid their already distant dreams of a last-16 place.<\/p>\n
Danny R\u00f6hl’s side sit fourth bottom of the group phase table despite picking up their first point of the season, needing a minor miracle to mount a five-point gap even to the play-off spots with three games remaining and nine teams to overtake.<\/p>\n
“It feels like we lost the game because it was in our hands,” captain James Tavernier told TNT Sports.<\/p>\n
“In the final third we have to be more patient and work it better instead of just shooting when it’s not really on. It’s a lapse in concentration for their goal.<\/p>\n
“It’s a missed opportunity for us. We have to be more clinical in both boxes, but I believe [we’re going in the right direction]. Boys are buying into it. We have to build on this and learn from it.”<\/p>\n
Up until Zalazar’s red, Rangers had been the better team at Ibrox and deservedly held a half-time lead courtesy of Tavernier’s penalty following a handball awarded by a VAR review.<\/p>\n
That strike took the captain level with Gers legend Ally McCoist on 21 European goals – and at that point, everything looked rosy.<\/p>\n
It would not last. Despite Zalazar’s red card, brought about by another VAR review which spotted he had moved his head towards Nicolas Raskin during a confrontation, Braga equalised just eight minutes later when Nasser Djiga misjudged a cross and provided the perfect assist for Martinez to bundle home at the back post.<\/p>\n
Rangers’ lack of urgency to restore their advantage was all the more puzzling with their extra man, and became irrelevant when Mohamed Diomande was harshly shown a second yellow in added time for an inadvertent elbow.<\/p>\n
Analysis: All over bar the shouting for Rangers<\/p>\n
Sky Sports’ Adam Binnie at Ibrox:<\/p>\n
“That’s Rangers now probably out of the Europa League. They’d need to win their final three matches against Ferencvaros, Ludogorets and Porto to even stand a chance.<\/p>\n
“Even then, a measly points tally of 10 is unlikely to secure progression to the play-off round. That wasn’t enough for Braga or Elfsborg to advance from this competition last year, while Dinamo Zagreb were knocked out of the Champions League on 11 points.<\/p>\n
“Fives games, zero wins, one point, two goals. Grim for a side who made the quarter-finals just last season.”<\/p>\n
R\u00f6hl insists at ‘progress’ despite draw<\/p>\n
Rangers head coach Danny R\u00f6hl on TNT Sports:<\/p>\n
“Yes, of course, 100 per cent [it’s progress]. For 60 minutes I saw a team who were really competitive against a team who have nine points from four games.<\/p>\n
“We were the better team, we created more chances, we had a lot of ball-winning situations. Of course, we’re disappointed now but it was a huge step forwards in our progress.<\/p>\n
“It was one key moment, a throw-in, we won’t look for excuses but in the second half with the wind it was always difficult. There’s no question mark for me today about our progress, we’ve come from 3-0 and 2-0 [defeats] and today played a good game for 60-65 minutes.”<\/p>\n