Rangers survive Bremen loss to progress in Uefa Cup
Thursday, 13 Mar 2008 22:02
Allan McGregor had a brilliant game
Rangers lost 1-0 away at Werder Bremen in the Uefa Cup but still made it into the quarter-finals of the tournament.
The Scottish side led 2-0 from the first leg, but they were completely dominated by Bremen in Germany and their passage through was largely thanks to a brilliant performance from goalkeeper Allan McGregor.
Brazilian playmaker Diego scored the only goal of the game, and though the German side created a number of other good chances they were unable to get past McGregor for a crucial second goal.
Bremen started the game in blistering fashion and McGregor was called into making good early saves from Markus Rosenberg and Daniel Jensen.
Rangers were missing key strikers Daniel Cousin and Jean-Claude Darcheville through injury and as a result they were very poor as an attacking force.
Nacho Novo had a decent effort saved by Tim Wiese in the Bremen goal on the half-hour mark, but that was really the best it got for Rangers.
For all their possession Bremen failed to find the net in the first half as the teams went in goalless.
The breakthrough came after the interval but when McGregor was finally beaten, it had to take a piece of individual brilliance to do it.
The impressive Diego, who was linked with
Chelsea earlier this week, crashed in a superb volley from outside the penalty area.
The home fans erupted as a result of the goal and urged their team forward.
And they almost got what they so desired right at the end of the game, but once again McGregor brilliantly saved from Boubacar Sanogo and turned the ball onto the bar to guarantee Rangers went through.