Europa League final: Pain usurps pride as Rangers' dreams melt away

Rangers players receive their Europa League runners-up medalsGetty Images

Runners-up medals are all Rangers have to show for their Europa League final appearance

By Tom English
BBC Scotland

From the shock and awe of their victory over Borussia Dortmund, to the thunder and lightning of their home wins against Braga and Leipzig, Rangers sparked some remarkable scenes on their epic run to the Europa League final.

The cameos that unfolded in the wake of Wednesday's brutal defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt were something altogether different, though. In the searing heat of Seville, all their dreams melted away.

As Frankfurt whooped and hollered on the winners' podium, Ryan Kent turned his back to them and stared into middle distance, contemplating, no doubt, his extraordinary miss - and Kevin Trapp's save - from point-blank range two minutes before the end of extra time.

Aaron Ramsey was consoled by one team-mate after another, but no end of empathy could cut through the despondency that engulfed the Welshman.

At his best, Ramsey is a wondrous talent but there's been no sign of his excellence since his move to Rangers. When he's not been injured, he's been ineffective. Their superstar signing was trusted with just three minutes at the end of Rangers' biggest game in 14 years.

The 'Caught in a Trapp' headlines are already being written of his failed attempt to beat the Frankfurt goalkeeper. That's how Ramsey will be remembered at Ibrox. Cruel, but true.

Rangers wanted to leave town with no regrets, but they'll be loaded down with such emotions on their flight back to Glasgow. Every Rangers player will carry the kind of baggage you just can't check in.

A story that started in early August came to a conclusion in Seville. They played 19 games in nine different countries and the whole momentous sweep of their European season was settled by a penalty kick.

'Separated by inches'

In their European history, Eintracht had been involved in two shootouts and lost them both. This time they won with a series of unerring strikes.

They say the margins in elite sport are minuscule - and they're right. Life at this level is a game of inches. Kent missed by inches, Ramsey missed by inches. Scott Wright should have blocked Filip Kostic's cross for Frankfurt's equaliser. Connor Goldson should have been more alive to the danger. Inches again. That was all that separated these two sides.

In the aftermath, veteran goalkeeper Allan McGregor wandered about as if in a daze. When he finally decided to exit the stage he did it at a funereal pace. He walked through the golden ticker-tape that had carpeted the pitch since the trophy lift, waved at a pocket of Rangers fans and then descended the stairs to the dressing room and was gone.

At 40, it's doubtful he will be seen again in the jersey. There's a Scottish Cup final to be played on Saturday but that'll be a gig for Jon McLaughlin. Certainly it looked like McGregor was saying goodbye, as bittersweet a farewell as you'll get.

He hadn't previously played in an occasion like this. The atmosphere crackled at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.

There was deafening noise and colour and a tifo down the Eintracht end that took the breath away, a gargantuan Grim Reaper vibe that was so vast in scale that it apparently took 50,000 euros to put it together and seven trucks to transport it to the south of Spain.

In the heat and the hubbub there was a nervousness and a lack of accuracy in Rangers' game in the beginning that did not augur well. They were jittery, wasteful and, at times, vulnerable. Three times in the space of a minute or two, Eintracht threatened. Ansgar Knauff had a shot saved. Jesper Lindstrom fluffed an effort close to goal. Djibril Sow lashed one over.

Rangers were in a battle to overcome their own shortcomings. When it looked like they were getting some traction they lost their way again. Was it the heat, was it the pressure? It was early in the second half and it was still 27C out there.

SNS

Joe Aribo's goal had Rangers dreaming of victory

Lindstrom had another effort, then Rafael Borre went down in the box under a challenge from Goldson and should have had a penalty. Eintracht didn't get it. Some travelled believing a Rangers win was written in the stars. That escape gave further ballast to the theory.

And there was more. In a season that has brought so many surreal moments, here was another fantastic oddity to add to the mix.

Trapp cleared at one end and Goldson met it at the other, sending a header back downfield. Frankfurt had Sow to deal with it, but he panicked and only managed to head it towards his own goal. Brazilian Tuta was also on the case, but fell in a heap and tried to bring Joe Aribo down with him.

Had Aribo had hit the deck, Tuta would have been off. As it was, the Nigerian strode on, kept his cool and scored. The Rangers fans went into orbit.

The sense of destiny calling was given further air when Daichi Kamada - one of Eintracht's main men - missed a terrific chance, lifting a chip over McGregor's crossbar when it looked to all the world like the equaliser was inevitable. Relief and joy and a gathering mood of history about to be be made. Then, the sickener.

Kostic is Eintracht's best player, the best assists merchant in the Europa League. Wright was seriously unwise when allowing him space to drill a cross into Rangers' six-yard box, where Goldson was caught out. The lead had lasted 12 minutes. Now it was the Germans' turn to assault the eardrums. Now it was Rangers who had to dig deep again.

'So agonisingly close but so painfully far away'

Giovanni van Bronckhorst started emptying his bench. Into extra time and the temperature was now 25C. Still boiling, still draining. Scott Arfield and James Sands appeared in the first period, Ramsey and Kemar Roofe in the second. The game was riddled with tension. It was hard to watch and yet impossible not to.

Kent had his moment with two minutes left. That was the chance. That was the opportunity to seal it, to win the final and everything that went with it - the glory and the money, the mantle of immortals and the guarantee of a place in the group stages of the Champions League next season.

The winger had to put it away, but didn't. Trapp made like a giant octopus and managed to keep it out. For all his reputation as an attacker of menace, Kent has scored one goal since mid-December and only three in a 45-game season. That's a terrible return but it wouldn't have mattered a damn had he put that sitter away. He'd have been hailed a hero forever.

Penalties came and penalties went and all saw what went down. Rangers folk will never forget it. So agonisingly close and yet so painfully far away.

The bitter truth is they didn't play to their capabilities, didn't look composed for the most part, didn't look convincing save for some isolated sections of the game. But they could have won it regardless. They could have triumphed over it all. One penalty kick. One. Entrusted to a guy who has shown in the past that he is made for days like this. Not this time.

This was not the way it was supposed to end but, then, this was not supposed to happen in the first place. A Scottish team skittling Dortmund and Leipzig and making a final that Napoli, Lazio, Barcelona, Sevilla and Porto among others couldn't. They didn't fall at the final hurdle. They fell after the final hurdle, in the final steps before the finishing line, the last inches.

The memory of how close they came should make them proud, but that process of putting context on what they did in this tournament is going to take a while. Right now, and for a long time to come, the pain will usurp the pride.

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