following last night's 2-1 win over Anorthosis
Famagusta in Nicosia thanks to second-half goals from
Nacho Novo and Fernando Ricksen.
The venue of Nicosia, the only divided capital in
Europe, was of course decided partly by UEFA decree
due to the inadequacy of Anorthosis' floodlights in
their adopted and temporary home of Larnaca and the
fact that the club has been displaced from their
natural home in Famagusta since the Turkish invasion
of Northern Cyprus in 1974.
Manager Alex McLeish made two changes from Inverness
with debutant Julien Rodriquez and Michael Ball
replacing Alex Rae and Peter Lovenkrands in what was,
yet again, an experimental line-up for Europe by the
management.
Rangers, wearing all-blue, settled well in the early
stages with Novo almost opening the scoring in ten
minutes with a twenty-yard snap-shot that was turned
wide by home goalkeeper Antonis Giorgallides, then
from the resultant Ricksen corner the ball flashed
across the face of goal without any takers.
Three minutes later Ian Murray went through on a Novo
slip only to shoot over.
The first near thing at Ronald Waterreus' goal arrived
on twenty minutes when Nicolaus Frousos beat the
offside trap only to head wide from a Nicos Nicolauo
chip.
Anorthosis were now finding their range, and finding
gaps in the visitors' defence with alarming ease -
Frousos hitting the post with a chip over the
advancing Waterreus from a Georgios Xenides pass in 34
minutes.
Three minutes later Thomas Buffel's volley from a
Barry Ferguson pass flashed inches wide.
The Cypriots were a constant threat - demonstrated by
their Player-Manager Temur Ketsbaia on the stroke of
half-time when his thirty-yard free-kick was fisted
away by Waterreus, then again two minutes after the
restart when his 25-yard shot was inches wide of the
target.
The deadlock was broken on 64 minutes when Novo rifled
the ball home after Ricksen's overhead volley from a
Dado Prso cross had been parried by Giorgallides.
Four minutes later Klimenti Tsitaishvili saw his
eighteen-yard shot on the turn turned wide by
Waterreus.
Rangers however went 2-0 up on seventy minutes when
Ricksen demonstrated great composure to net from
Prso's reverse pass.
A team is always at its' most vulnerable immediately
after scoring, and so it proved instantaneously when
Frousos netted from a Leonidas Kampantais lay-off
following a Rodriguez error.
Anorthosis almost levelled matters in 85 minutes when
Kampantais was through on a Giorgi Kinkladze pass only
to see his effort blocked by Waterreus.
The final whistle brought an excellent result for the
Ibrox men, despite a shaky defence that will have to
be resolved. Alex McLeish afterwards stressed that the
tie was not yet won:
"I gambled on the back four but felt that their
experience should make them capable of handling the
game. We rode our luck at times. It's only half-time
in the tie. I know we can play better, and will need
to if we aspire to reach the Champions' League."
ANORTHOSIS FAMAGUSTA Giorgallides; Poursaitidis
(Tsolakidis 74), Loucas, Xenides, Hakki; Marangos
(Konstandinou 81), Kinkladze, Nicolauo, Ketsbaia;
Tsitaishvili (Kampantais 70), Frousos
UNUSED SUBS Markov, Kokkinos, Samaras, Parmakis
RANGERS Waterreus; Fanfan, Rodriguez, Andrews, Ball;
Novo (Burke 80), Ricksen, Ferguson, Buffel
(Lovenkrands 57), Murray; Prso (Thompson 74)
UNUSED SUBS Malcolm, Klos, A. Rae, McCormack
Attendance 16,990