Rangers boss Steven Gerrard 's head will have been hurting all the way back to Glasgow in a futile attempt to make some sense
of this complete confusion of a football match.
He shouldn’t have wasted his time on the late-night flight.
In the end he got out of town with another Group A point, which means Rangers are still in the mixer when it comes to qualifying for the Europa League knockout rounds.
Given that nothing seemed to make any sense during a roller-coaster 90 minutes in Denmark, that is probably consolation enough.
That Brondby are also now dead in the water – after failing to secure a must-win match – was another boost for Scotland’s champions on a night when there were far more questions than answers.
How, for example, could Leon Balogun perform so immaculately in the heart of Rangers’ defence and still come within 14 minutes of costing his side all three points with an own goal at the end of the first half?
Why on earth were Gerrard’s players 1-0 down at the break when they could have been three goals up in the opening 10 minutes?
And how come Rangers managed to fall out of this match for so long that, at times, they made a very ordinary Brondby side look far better than they actually are?
It was a night that began badly outside the ground as baton-wielding riot cops waded – indiscriminately and without provocation, according to eyewitnesses – into the travelling fans. But, on the pitch, it was Gerrard’s players who went straight on to the front foot.
There was a sense of menace and aggression about the manner in which they set about the Danes, pressing them deep into their
own territory and harassing them into a flurry of mistakes.
The overeager Alfredo Morelos was booked only three minutes in for catching Morten Frendrup with a late sliding tackle but this was a declaration of intent from the Colombian, who clearly planned to leave his mark on this match.
Two minutes later he had the ball in the net when he ghosted in at the back post to get his head on a James Tavernier corner, only for his celebrations to be cut short by the swish of a linesman’s flag.
VAR then agreed that Tavernier’s exocet delivery had drifted a fraction behind the touchline.
But Morelos was back banging on the door moments later, this time taking a Borna Barisic cross down on his chest before slashing a shot over the bar from 10 yards.
The Danes looked in all manner of trouble and in danger of collapsing under the barrage.
Then, with only nine minutes on the clock, another huge chance came and went as Fashion Sakala turned on the jet burners to breach Brondby’s last line and race on to Joe Aribo’s superbly weighted through ball.
The Zambian left his marker standing but, with only Mads Hermansen to beat, screwed the shot across goal and wide of the keeper’s right-hand post.
The home side looked capable of causing Rangers problems on the break but almost everything they could muster was being repelled by the twin defensive rocks of Connor Goldson and Balogun.
More chances were squandered at the other end. First, by Aribo who got his head on another Tavernier delivery but failed to hit the target.
Then Barisic picked out Goldson with a corner and his header was blocked by Sigurd Rosted when it seemed destined to bulge the net.
On the stroke of half-time Brondby made the breakthrough courtesy of Balogun’s only blunder of the match.
Spooked by a flick-on at the front post from a corner, the Nigerian reacted by sticking his head on it and planting the ball into his own net.
What Gerrard needed was a strong and instant response after the interval. What he got was anything but as a rattled Gers struggled to get up to any kind of speed.
The boss waited for 10 minutes before deciding to do something about it. By replacing Morelos, Sakala and Scott Arfield with Ianis Hagi, Kemar Roofe and the returning Ryan Kent, he was effectively throwing the dice.
There was a better rhythm about his team’s passing game and yet the only real chance they created came from a corner Goldson got on the end of to set up Balogun for a volley that fizzed straight at keeper Hermansen.
With 14 minutes left, Gerrard’s subs clicked in style as Kent surged over the halfway line having nicked the ball off Aribo’s toes to drive at the Danish defence.
Kent then had the composure to roll a disguised pass into the path of Hagi whose thumping first-time finish crashed across the face of Hermansen and burrowed itself into the bottom corner of his net.
Even then, it seemed Rangers might snatch a victory. Despite a late flurry of heavy pressure, Gerrard had to settle for a puzzler of a point.
