Rangers 2-1 Stuttgart - High Drama At Ibrox

Attendance 47,957

The result - which sets Rangers up to contest the
remaining five games in the group - was not without
its’ cost however - Fernando Ricksen suffering serious
concussion in a clash with team-mate Henning Berg and
will now be absent for at least four weeks.

As it was Rangers went into the game severely
handicapped by the absence of the injured Craig Moore
and Ronald De Boer, and without a win in Europe’s
premier club competition for three years and four
games.

Stuttgart - under the shrewd leadership of Coach Felix
Magath, a European Cup winner as a player with Hamburg
in 1983 - had never before visited Ibrox, although the
two clubs did meet in Toronto in 1984. They arrived in
Glasgow placed second in the Bundesliga, just one
point adrift of Bayer Leverkusen, having conceded not
one single goal in six domestic fixtures.

The Germans were of course desperately unlucky to lose
on their last visit to Glasgow, 1-3 to Celtic when
they played for all of 75 minutes with ten men, a
handicap that had a decisive influence on the outcome
of the tie. Indeed many neutral onlookers that night
at Celtic Park believed that it should have been
Stuttgart participating in a certain game in Seville
on May 21.

French Referee Gilles Veissiere was no stranger to
Ibrox, having refereed the club’s 1-0 UEFA Cup win
over Kaiserslautern in Season 2000-01.

There was a tumultuous noise pouring down from the
stands from the very instant that the last notes of
the Champions’ League signature tune died away, with
Stuttgart showing a composed and assured attitude even
in such a daunting atmosphere.

It was the Germans who were first to threaten in
fourteen minutes when Alexander Hleb moved on to a
Kuranyi cross only to see Stefan Klos block his drive.

Two minutes later Hleb again caused problems for the
Ibrox defence, almost forcing his way through before
his parting shot was deflected away from the danger
zone.

If Stuttgart had enjoyed the early possession, it was
Rangers who came closest to opening the scoring in 24
minutes when a Mikel Arteta free-kick found the head
of Paulo Vanoli, his effort producing a superb
instinctive save from goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand.

The 47,957 spectators had barely had time to draw
breath on that one when a delicate pass from Emerson
found Shota Arveladze inside the penalty area, his
shot on the turn being blocked by Hildebrand who had
demonstrated great awareness in sprinting out to close
down the Georgian.

Rangers suffered a serious injury blow with the loss
of Fernando Ricksen in 33 minutes, taken off with
concussion following a clash of heads with Henning
Berg. Maurice Ross - ordered off against the German
national side six days ago - substituted for the
Dutchman.

The Scottish Champions had probably had the better of
the first-half, yet conceded the opening goal in the
last minute of injury time when a Marcelo Bordon
free-kick from fully thirty yards went straight
through the wall, cannoned off the base of the post,
and rebounded for Kevin Kuranyi to net from close
range.

Manager Alex McLeish clearly felt that his side needed
freshening up after the interval, replacing Vanoli
with Peter Lovenkrands.

Stuttgart exuded confidence upon the restart,
heartened by their apparently impenetrable defence,
and might have extended their lead ten minutes into
the second-half when a swift counter-attack found
Kuranyi, whose twenty-yard drive was just wide.

Four minutes later Klos had to look alert when he was
tested by Heldt following a lightning break by
substitute Ioannis Amanatidis.

Nuno Capucho - the subject of so much unjustified
criticism in recent days - replaced Emerson in 65
minutes, and two minutes on Arveladze might have done
better than scoop a Lovenkrands pass into the arms of
Hildebrand.

Rangers were pressing incessantly now as Stuttgart
fell back in defence of their lead. A Michael Ball
thirty-yard free-kick flashed just wide of the target
in 70 minutes, but within three minutes more the
scores were level when Christian Nerlinger took
advantage of a bad clearance from his countrymen and
forced his way through the centre of the German
defence, attempted to find Michael Mols only for the
ball to break back into Nerlinger’s path, enabling him
to find the net with a low shot.

It was the first goal that the Bundesliga side had
conceded thus far during the current campaign, and
Stuttgart visibly wilted under the wall of noise from
the packed stadium.

Rangers might have had a penalty in 78 minutes when
Arveladze clashed with Heiko Gerber, but within sixty
seconds the Light Blues - unbelievably - had the lead
when a superb solo effort by Peter Lovenkrands brought
the house down. Taking possession wide on the left -
and seeing little in the way of options inside - the
Dane cut inside before unleashing a dipping 25-yard
shot that perhaps caught Hildebrand off-guard.

The Ibrox legions erupted - with a memorable and
significant victory in sight - and the tension of the
occasion was demonstrated when, bizarrely, substitute
goalkeeper Allan McGregor was yellow-carded without
having set foot on the park, the French Referee
indicating that he had taken too long to return the
ball into play from the dug-out.

The closing stages were fraught with tension as
Stuttgart pushed desperately for an equaliser -
Fernando Meier directing a header into the arms of
Klos from an Andreas Hinkel free-kick.

Four minutes of injury time caused palpitations
amongst the Rangers support, but in fact it was the
home side who should have made it 3-1 in the dying
seconds of added time. A superb through-ball from
Michael Ball found Lovenkrands running free, a
stunning 25-yard shot striking the crossbar. The
rebound fell to Capucho who cleverly squared to the
unmarked Dane who, unmarked in front of goal, somehow
sliced his effort wide.

The final whistle immediately afterwards rendered the
miss academic, and brought the curtain down on a
memorable Rangers win, a result that means that there
remains only two German clubs who have won at Ibrox in
European competition.

Alex McLeish was happy to expand on the night’s work:

'It’s a fantastic result. I lived every minute with
the players. I felt that we were better in the
first-half than in the second. We deserved something
from the game. Stuttgart were well organised and
athletic. Henning Berg showed his experience in
marshalling the defence.

'The loss of Fernando will be a bad blow. The squad is
short on depth for the long haul. If you lose a few
players it becomes much more difficult.'

Stuttgart Coach Felix Magath was resigned to his
side’s fate:

'I felt we deserved more from the game, but my team is
going through a learning phase in the Champions’
League. We perhaps relied on our defensive record too
much.'

So it’s next stop Athens in a fortnight for Rangers -
and whilst Panathinaikos suffered a 5-0 mauling at Old
Trafford this evening they will surely be a more
formidable force in their own intimidating stadium.

RANGERS Klos; Ricksen (Ross 33), Khizanishvili, Berg,
Ball; Emerson (Capucho 65), Arteta, Nerlinger, Vanoli
(Lovenkrands 45); Arveladze, Mols
UNUSED SUBS McGregor, Ostenstad, Malcolm, Hughes

STUTTGART Hildebrand; Hinkel, Fernando Meira, Bordon,
Gerber (Szabics 80); Hleb, Soldo, Tiffert, Heldt
(Meissner 69); Kuranyi, Cacau (Amanatidis 45)
UNUSED SUBS Lahm, Heinen, Wenzel, Vranjes

REFEREE Gilles Veissiere (France)