Attendance 10,013
It was all too easy for Rangers this afternoon, a 3-0 win over Dundee United at Tannadice setting the Ibrox men up for the vital week ahead.
Today’s game was the first for the Tannadice club under the Chairmanship of local businessman Eddie Thompson, but despite this there was an abysmal turnout of home fans in the 10,000 crowd.
Fielding precisely the same line-up as that which had overcome Partick Thistle seven days ago, Rangers made a positive start with a Peter Lovenkrands drive from a Kevin Muscat cross flashing wide of the target, then a Ronald De Boer header from a Mikel Arteta corner missed the upright by a hairsbreadth – all inside the opening five minutes.
United were dangerous on the counter-attack, but the pressure was all from the visitors, and the opening goal when it arrived was simplicity itself – an Arteta free-kick being headed home by Lorenzo Amoruso in 21 minutes.
Sixty seconds later it was Stefan Klos to the rescue when he blocked a Steven Thompson effort from a Stephen O’Donnell cross.
Rangers however were comfortable even with a narrow lead. Arteta again showed vision and imagination in 40 minutes when his free-kick from a wide angle was powerful and on target, Paul Gallacher touching the ball onto the underside of the crossbar and clear.
The second goal was merely delayed – a flowing move between Barry Ferguson and Ronald De Boer splitting the Tannadice defence asunder. Fergie’s pass released his Dutch colleague down the right, and the ‘Gers Captain was perfectly placed to rifle home De Boer’s low cross to give his team a 2-0 interval lead.
Much of the second-half was low-key, with Rangers content with their two-goal lead. There was however the inevitable injury scare midway through when De Boer limped off to be replaced by Claudio Caniggia.
Nothing could hinder the visitors’ superiority however – and it was 3-0 six minutes later when a quite exquisite Arteta reverse pass released Caniggia on the right, his low cross being met by Shota Arveladze whose initial effort was parried by Paul Gallacher.
The Georgian Internationalist was first to react however, sweeping the rebound into the net. Arteta was in superb form, linking the midfield to perfection and dovetailing with Lovenkrands to great effect, illustrated in 80 minutes when the Spaniard created an opening for the Dane, who switched from left-foot to right before seeing his low drive parried by Gallacher.
The same combination almost did the trick six minutes later when Arteta’s driven cross was inches away from the inrushing Lovenkrands, but Rangers were happy to play out time with a 3-0 lead.
Manager Alex McLeish was relaxed in his post-match analysis: "We had a great start, and showed in the first five minutes that we were up for the game."
On Mikel Arteta, he was fulsome in his praise:
"Mikel was everywhere, we now have great balance in the midfield. Barry looks good in the holding role."
One piece of news Rangers could have done without however was the injury sustained by Ronald De Boer:
"He’s doubtful for Thursday – he appeared to suffer a knee injury. I am however much more confident for the return leg than I was in Prague."
One year ago – almost to the day – Rangers left Tannadice with a 6-1 win (and a Tore Andre Flo hat-trick) with two crucial games against Anzhi Makhachkala and Celtic ahead of them. A 1-0 win in Warsaw was followed by defeat at the hands of their greatest rivals. Much more is expected in the next eight days.
DUNDEE UNITED Gallacher; Duff, McCracken, Lauchlan, Cummings; O’Donnell (Gunnlaugsson 81), Miller (Lilley 69), Griffin, Wilson (Paterson 76), Easton; Thompson UNUSED SUBS Jarvie, McCunnie
RANGERS Klos; Muscat (Konterman 76), Moore, Amoruso, Ross; Ricksen, Ferguson, Arteta Lovenkrands; De Boer (Caniggia 67), Arveladze
UNUSED SUBS McGregor, Dodds, Latapy
REFEREE John Rowbotham