Thrill-seeking Rangers do it again as Europa League semis beckon
- Published
Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Kemar Roofe celebrate Rangers' latest European epic
You didn't have to speak to a single Rangers fan to know how they were feeling as Thursday night's drama unfolded at Ibrox; it was written across the faces of every last one of them, the twin emotions of exhilaration and dread and, on the last whistle, an explosion of joy at a job well done.
Nobody at the club wanted a nerve-shredding epic against Braga, but that's what they got. Nobody expected a nail-biter at 2-0 going on three and four, but that's what transpired. The psychology of sport, eh? Having been pummelled for 83 minutes, Braga's goal dropped out of the night sky and the tie was somehow level.
It didn't matter now that Rangers had owned the ball and had created a bucket of chances against 11 and then 10 men, it didn't matter that Kemar Roofe had a goal disallowed, then missed a sitter, then had another goal disallowed or that Joe Aribo failed to pick out Ryan Kent for a clear shot at goal or that Aaron Ramsey failed to find the target from close range.
Borna Barisic had tormented Braga down that left side throughout. It didn't matter. Braga had one chance and one goal and we were all square again. Football's brutal justice.
They could have gone one of two ways at that point - down the same plughole they went when playing with a one-man advantage against Malmo in the Champions League qualifier earlier in the season or, alternatively, they could take Braga's goal on the chin and go again. And that's what they did. Normal business resumed immediately.
Braga barely got another kick, but did get another red card. Rangers got more chances and wasted more chances, but they took one. One is all they needed in the end. They should have had the feet up and the cigars out by the hour. The fact that they were still playing hard in the 120th minute made it all the more memorable. Exhausting, and perhaps worrying for them given what's to come on Sunday, but unforgettable nonetheless.
So they've made it to the last four with Leipzig to play next. This is rarefied air now. Europa League semi-finalists last season: Manchester United, Roma, Villarreal and Arsenal. Europa League semi-finalists the year before: United again, Inter Milan, Sevilla and Shakhtar Donetsk. Valencia and Chelsea were there the year before that.
It's not just that Rangers have done it, it's the way they've done it. If they'd parked the bus and bored their way through, fair enough. It would still have been celebrated. But they haven't had to rely on good fortune or heroic last-ditch defending or nervy penalty shoot-outs.
'Rangers a riot in the Europa League'
A thrill-seeking ride on Thursday and three goals. Three more in a first-leg beating of Red Star Belgrade. Six in two legs against Borussia Dortmund - all of this after losing their first two games in the pool stage. Football is about many things but, ultimately, it's about entertainment and this Rangers team has been a riot in the Europa League. They've been great fun and now they play Leipzig who are sitting fourth in the Bundesliga having already eliminated the team currently sitting second.
Leipzig not as good as Dortmund? Well, Leipzig have beaten Dortmund 2-1 and 4-1 this season, so there's that. Konrad Laimer scored twice in the 4-1 victory. Laimer has been recently linked with Manchester United.
Christopher Nkunku (30 goals in all competitions so far this season) also scored and has also been linked with a move to Old Trafford. Dani Olmo got the other one. Olmo, a graduate of the Barcelona academy and now a key player in the Spanish national team, has been subject of talk about a 40m euro return to Camp Nou.
Kemar Roofe struck the crucial blow that finally downed Braga
It doesn't matter, though. Rangers will be underdogs, that's a fact. They are going up against a side that live in a different financial world, a world that saw them sell four players since last summer for a total of 108m euros, give or take a cent or two. Regardless of losing Marcel Sabitzer and Dayot Upamecano to Bayern Munich, Hee-Chan Hwang to Wolves and Ibrahima Konate to Liverpool, Leipzig are still excellent, but none of that will worry Rangers.
Nobody expected them to get this far and nobody expects them to go any further. That mindset makes them dangerous. Dortmund are living proof of it. All the pressure will be on Leipzig. They'll respect every inch of what Rangers bring to Germany.
What a season this has been for them. What extremes they've gone through. From the low of a poor exit from the Champions League at the hands of Malmo to the high of winning the first Old Firm game of the season.
From the dejection of losing their first two Europa League group games to the deflation of losing Steven Gerrard and his coaches to Aston Villa, to the bitter acrimony of being routed by Hibs in the League Cup semi-final, to the positivity of making the Europa League knockouts only to fall back again when whacked by Celtic in the league, only to knock Borussia Dortmund out of Europe soon after. It's been a dizzying ride.
And it's going on and on. They lose 2-1 to Celtic at Ibrox, but then they beat Braga and achieve their greatest European feat in 14 years.
Underdogs in Europe & Scottish Cup
Rangers and Celtic meet for the fourth time this season on Sunday
The biggest boffins in the land would struggle to get an angle on them - how they can look so vulnerable domestically at times and yet look so convincing against good opposition in Europe. They've drawn league games against Aberdeen (twice), Motherwell (twice), Hearts, Ross County and Dundee United.
They've also lost in the league to Dundee United and, of course, have lost twice to Celtic. The Old Firm matches one can understand. Celtic have been a better side. The others - and the fact that there's been so many of them - are a lot harder to grasp.
Rangers can be a really fine team, as they have shown in Europe. So what's with the weakness domestically? You give massive credit to the sides who've taken points off them despite operating on a fraction of Rangers' budget, but also you have to wonder why it's happened so often?
Is it the pressure of knowing they have to win every week in Scotland that's brought about their inconsistency in the league and their loss to Hibs in the League Cup? By contrast, is it the freedom of knowing that every round of Europe is a bit of a free hit that's made them so compelling?
Whatever it is, their support has gone from calling for heads on spikes after the loss to Hibs at Hampden to eulogising pretty much the same set of players after their excellence in Europe. It's weird and wonderful at the same time.
Celtic will be favourites to win the Scottish Cup semi-final on Sunday - they have the measure of Rangers plus they were resting up while Rangers were going to the wire at Ibrox - but the feelgood from Thursday can't be discounted in any analysis of what might happen at Hampden.
You could make a case for Rangers being out-thought and outplayed by Celtic and losing again or you could make a case for them riding the wave from Braga and winning. They're odds against and rightly so, but you're never quite sure what you're getting from them this season. They can spark into life or go out like a light when you least expect it.
Thursday was a seismic night for them. Many have fallen in the competition this season - Lyon and Monaco, Napoli and Leicester, Lazio and Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen and Porto, Barcelona, Atalanta and Borussia Dortmund. Rangers are still going. A fabulous story continues…