following a quite magnificent 2-0 win over Sporting
Lisbon tonight.
This win takes the Ibrox men into almost unchartered
territory with their first appearance in the last four
of a European tournament since 1972. In that
semi they will face Fiorentina of Italy for a place in
the final in Manchester on 14 May.
3,000 Light Blue followers were in the main offered a
friendly welcome to the Portuguese capital, with one
banner amongst the home support proclaiming "Sporting
are the real Lisbon Lions" (Sporting´s nickname is the
Lions) which would certainly be well received by the
´Gers fans. However sickening graffitti scrawled
outside the Estadio Jose Alvalade was shameful with
´F--K Rangers´, ´FTQ´ and ´Up The Ra´ scrawled by an
intelectually-challenged individual, presumably one of
those sad characters wearing Celtic tops and waving
Irish Tricolours, no doubt refugees from either
Glasgow or Dublin.
As to the football, Manager Walter Smith made four
changes from Tannadice with Kirk Broadfoot, Steve
Davis, Brahim Hemdani and Jean-Claude Darcheville
replacing the suspended David Weir, Steven Whittaker,
Kris Boyd and Nacho Novo against a home side that
showed one change from Ibrox with Gladstone for Polga.
Austrian Referee Konrad Plautz was no stranger to
Rangers, having taken charge of the home game with
Barcelona earlier this season.
Rangers almost made a dream start in three minutes
when Brahim Hemdani fed Jean-Claude Darcheville, the
French striker dispossessing Gladstone only to be
thwarted by home goalkeeper Rui Patricio.
Sporting first threatened in seventeeen minutes when
Liedson´s header came back off an upright following a
Leandro Romagnoli free-kick.
Rangers nevertheless were comfortably holding their
opponents, allowing the Portuguese virtually no clear
goalscoring opportunities.
Indeed it was not until the interval approached that
Sporting at last began to pose some danger - Joao
Moutinho´s twenty-yard drive flashing wide in 41
minutes, then right on the cusp of the interval Simon
Vukcevic´s effort from the edge of the area missed the
target by inches.
Not that Rangers had been entirely on the back-foot
-sandwiched between these two efforts Lee McCulloch´s
22-yard drive from a Sasa Papac cross had been blocked
by Tonel.
Kevin Thomson received a yellow card three minutes
into the second-half for a foul on Miguel Veloso. a
booking that will keep him out of the semi-final
first-leg.
Sporting had restarted on the offensive - and
Christian Dailly made a crucial intervention in 52
minutes when he headed clear under pressure from
Liedson as the Brazilian homed in on a Miguel Veloso
cross.
Two minutes later Vukcevic saw his header from a
Veloso free-kick drift inches wide.
The deadlock was broken in 59 minutes when in a swift
counter-attack Darcheville released Steve Davis on the
right, then was in the perfect position to convert the
Northern Irishman's cross to put Rangers firmly in the
driving seat.
Sporting now required two goals to save the tie,
Vukcevic seeing his shot on the turn deflected wide in
seventy minutes.
Daniel Cousin replaced Darcheville in 71 minutes. then
five minutes later home substitute Yannick Djalo might
have done better than scoop the ball wide from an Abel
cross.
Steven Whittaker substituted for Lee McCulloch in 76
minutes
Desperation was creeping into the home side´s play as
they piled on the pressure - Vukcevic seeing his
twenty-yard shot held by Allan McGregor in 78 minutes,
then sixty seconds later Tonel´s header from
Romagnoli´s free-kick scraped the outside of a post.
Barry Ferguson received a senseless yellow card in 81
minutes for kicking the ball away, again a booking
that will keep him out of the home tie with
Fiorentina.
Rangers survived the onslaught however, and sealed the
win with a glorious individual goal from substitute
Steven Whittaker who ran fully fifty yards through the
heart of the Sporting defence before rounding Rui
Patricio to stroke the ball home.
Afterwards a delighted Walter Smith stated:
"We played very well, and kept possession right from
the start of the game. We scored two really good,
well-worked goals."
SPORTING LISBON Patricio; Abel, Tonel, Gladstone
(Pereirinha 68), Grimi (Tiui 75); Moutinho, Veloso,
Romagnoli, Izmailov (Djalo 60); Vukcevic, Liedson
UNUSED SUBS Tiago, Silva, Ronny, Farnerud
RANGERS McGregor; Broadfoot, Dailly, Cuellar, Papac;
Davis, Ferguson, Hemdani, Thomson, McCulloch
(Whittaker 76); Darcheville (Cousin 71)
UNUSED SUBS Alexander, Boyd, Novo, Burke, Naismith
REFEREE Konrad Plautz
Attendance 31,155