Panathinaikos 1-1 Rangers

Nevertheless the draw leaves Rangers at the top of the group with Stuttgart remarkably having defeated Manchester United 2-1 in Germany, a state of affairs that no doubt manager Alex McLeish would have settled for prior to tonight's game.

Rangers made one change from Saturday with Craig Moore, leading the side out fro the first time as club captain, replacing Maurice Ross who had suffered a hamstring injury against Dundee and had to content himself with a place on the bench. Oz found himself partnering Henning Berg for the first time.

The Light Blues, wearing all-blue, had never scored on, their two previous visits to Greece.

The Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium was close to capacity with some 850 Ranges fans present. The electric atmosphere underlined the reputation of Athens spectators as amongst he most volatile in Europe.

It was the Scottish champions who made the more positive start with Shota Arveladze shooting wide from a Michael Mols pass in 3 minutes.

Four minutes later Mikel Arteta wide angled free kick flashed across the face of goal with no-one close enough to make a telling touch.

Panathinaikos at last showed their merits in 8minutes when Giorgos Seitaridis embarked on a mazy run that took him into the heart of the Rangers defence only to see his shot blocked by Craig Moore.

Rangers were under pressure for the first time and three minutes alter Silvio Maric saw his volley headed off the line by Mikel Arteta.

Spanish referee Arturo Ibanez had not taken long to incur the wrath of the home fans as in 21 minutes he felt obliged to speak to Parathions coach Itzhak Shum following protestations over one of his decisions. This lecture brought a shower of missile from eh crowd at least tow of which only just missed the referee.

Five minutes later even more missiles were thrown at the Rangers substitutes as they warmed up. The Panathinaikos fans, some wearing Celtic tops, were clearly living up to description of "professional hoodlums" that the local press had accused the Rangers management of describing them as.

The home side continued to press with a Joel Epalle deep cross to the back post finding captain Panagiogis Fissas whose header back across goal was cleared by Moore.

Peter Lovenkrands might have done better than fire wildly over from an Arteta cross in 32 minutes, but the opening goal was delayed a mere two minutes longer when Nuno Capucho, release by Zurab Khizianishvili, sent a low ball across the face of goal where Emerson touched it over the line.

The half ended with the local fans and players complaining bitterly over every refereeing decision, and when Goran Valovic was yellow-carded for dissent the Rangers fans taunted both opposition fans and players with a chant of "Are you Celtic in disguise."

One-nil ahead at the interval, Rangers must have had every confidence in the way the game was progressing.

Panathinaikos restarted with renewed determination, Michael Konstantinou testing Stefan Klos with a 20-yard shot from a Raimondas Zutautas run in 52 minutes.

Two minutes later Rangers were inches away from going two ahead when an apparently harmless cross from Lovenkrands was completely missed by goalkeeper Konstantinos Challis only for the ball to trickle just wide of the target.

The Greeks were reduced to ten men in 57 minutes when substitute Ionnis Goumas, having been on the field a mere 12 minutes, received his second yellow card and subsequent red, for a wild tackle on Shota Arveladze.

That decision produced a shower of missiles yet again from the home fans but three minutes later Panathinaikos should have been reduced to nine men when Epalle committed a quite appalling tackle on Arveladze, and was fortunate to see only yellow.

Despite their numerical disadvantage Panathinaikos piled on the pressure, with Konstantinou testing Klos with a twenty-yard drive that was fisted out by the Ibrox keeper. In 66 minutes.

Five minutes later substitutive Dimitris Papadopoulos had a goal-bound shot blocked by Henning Berg, outstanding at the heart of defence throughout.



A Michael Mols goal from a Capucho cross was disallowed for offside in 79 minutes, but Rangers appeared to have weathered the storm until with just two minutes remaining and from a suspiciously offside position Konstantinou found the net with a close range header from a Papadopoulos cross.

The stadium erupted in a cauldron of noise yet Rangers might just have regained the lead in the final minute when substitute Paolo Vanoli, released by Mols, saw his angled drive held by the Greek keeper.

The final whistle sounded soon afterwards to leave Rangers leading a group many expected them to finish bottom of.

Manager Alex McLeish afterwards expressed his frustration "we were in control for 65 minutes, playing well with a positive attitude but showed fear for the first time after Panathinaikos were reduced to ten men, this was two points dropped, sometimes you have to learn the hard way. The players will be kicking themselves in the days to come. Stuttgart's result proves that they are like Rangers a capable side. Every team in this group will be threat on their own ground."

Rangers thus return home frustrated but with all to play for in the Champions League. The next game is against Manchester United, but before that there is the small matter of a visit from Celtic on Saturday.



Panathinaikos: 12-Costas Halkias, 3-Nasif Morris, 5-Yourkas Seitaridis, 16-Sotiris Kyrgiakos, 30-Takis Fyssas, 35-Jan Michaelsen, 4-Silvio Maric, 10-Joel Epalle, 14-Paimondas Zutaustas, 19-Michalis Konstantinou, 7-Goran Valovic
Subs: Nikopolidis, Munch, Goumas, Papadopoulos, Sanmartean, Basinas, Konstantinidis.



Rangers: 1-Stefan Klos, 25-Hening Berg, 3-Craig Moore, 18-Michael Ball, 15-Zurab Khizianishvili, 4-Emerson, 20-Capucho, 23-Mikel Arteta, 26-Peter Lovenkrands (Vanoli 76), 7-Shota Arveladze, 10-Michael Mols (Nerlinger 84)
Subs: McGregor, Ostenstad, Malcolm, Ross, Hughes.



Referee: Arturo Dauden Ibanez (Spain)