Full-time: Villarreal 2-2 Rangers
What a tremendous result this is for Rangers, especially after a first half in which they posed no threat whatsoever to the hosts. At times it seemed they would be lucky to avoid a serious tonking but once they rebelled and started to take the fight to Villarreal, they looked dangerous. Their goals - especially the second - were lovely and their point well deserved. Steven Gerrard can take great satisfaction from the way his players refused to panic and grew into the game by showing strong character and some tidy play. And a special mention must go to Glenn Middleton, the 18-year-old who made a big impact off the bench. Rangers’ Europa League group campaign is off to an encouraging start!
Updated
90+4 min: What a cross from the right for Bacca, who has a great chance to score at the back post .... but heads wide from three yards!
90+3 min: Dorrans booked for reasons not immediately clear.
90+3 min: Corner to Villarreal. Cazorla fizzes it into the danger zone. Moreno eludes Goldson gets his head to it, glancing the ball just wide from six yards!
90+1 min: A point? Rangers want three! Dorrans opens up the home defence with a cute disguised pass to Arfield, who had burst from deep and tries to stab the ball past the advancing keeper on the run. But the keeper saves to deny Rangers their first victory over a Spanish team in Spain.
89 min: More disciplined defending by Rangers prevents Villarreal from opening the door. Their knocking is actually growing more feint. Rangers are edging closer to an impressive point ....
88 min: Rangers entrenched in their own half, erecting ramparts that Villarreal don’t look like infiltrating at the moment. But there are two minutes plus stoppage time to go, and that can be a looonnnng time in these circumstances.
86 min: Arfield, who struggled badly in the first half, has personified Rangers’ improvement and underlined the point by winning the ball midway inside his own half, sabotaging a Villarreal attack.
Rangers substitution: Dorrans on, Barisic limps off
83 min: Villarreal are hogging the ball and probing with ominous purpose. But Rangers are keeping their shape and tackling with real tenacity and no little composure. They were in danger of being blown away earlier in this game but Gerrard will be chuffed at how they’ve grown into it in this second half - especially if they hold on for a point, at least.
81 min: Villarreal are back on the front foot now, alright, and Rangers are starting to retreat a little too much ...
Villarreal substitution: Chukweze on, Sansome off. Can Villarreal’s teenage substitute have a similar impact to Middleton? The home side certainly need something to get them back on the front foot, because rangers are starting to entertain thoughts of taking three points here.
GOAL! Villarreal 2-2 Rangers (Lafferty 77)
That’s a super team goal! Middleton was heavily involved, playing a lovely pass down the right wing to Barisic, who fired an excellent low cross towards the near post. Lafferty beat the defender to it and guided it first time past the keeper! A really memorable goal, not least for young Middleton. He’s changed this game!
Updated
74 min: Middleton receives a throw-in with his back to goal and shows impressive strength to roll his man and try to dig out a cross. It fails to find a teammate but the youngster has been bright since his introduction, offering Rangers a new threat. They’re not out of this yet.
Rangers substitution: Middleton on, Coulibaly off. Within a minute of coming on, the 18-year-old is chopped down by Llambrich, who gets a deserved booking.
GOAL! Villarreal 2-1 Rangers (Moreno 68)
Well that didn’t last long. Villarreal cranked p the tempo and swept forward before Moreno, a recent substitute, receives the ball on the right-hand side of the box. cuts back on to his left foot to fool Barisic, and drives a fierce low shot into the net from nine yards.
Updated
GOAL! Villarreal 1-1 Rangers (Arfield 67)
Having hung in for most of the match, Rangers launch a smooth counter-attack and score with their first shot on target! Arfield clips it into the net from six yards after a smart pullback from the right-hand byline by Candelas!
Updated
66 min: McGregor has to hurtle out of his box again to make another desperate clearance. He succeeds only in diverting it as far as Fornals, who tries to chip it over the stranded keeper and into the net from 25 yards. But he gets his calculations all wrong.
64 min: Lafferty gets his ankle kicked on half-way by Ruiz, and Rangers get a freekick. They funnel it down the right and win a corner. Tavernier’s delivery is nutted away by Funes Mori.
Villarreal substitution: Trigueros on, Ekambi off.
61 min: Terrific save by McGregor! Barisic headed a cross out to the edge of the area, where Funes Mori met it with a spanking low volley. The keeper got down impressively fast and showed a good strong hand to push it out for a corner!
59 min: Cazorla delivers a corner for Villarreal, pinging it out to the edge of the box. Pedraz meets it with firm volley, which whizzes over the bar. “I’m sure you’ve said this, Paul, but what a pleasure it is to see Santi Cazorla not only named on the team sheet, but actually playing, and seemingly playing well - and still on the pitch coming up to the hour - wonderful!” coos Charles Antaki. Yes, I did say it and, yes, he is playing with real class. Rangers’ midfielders can’t get close to him.
57 min: Tavernier drifts a curling freekick towards the far post, hoping a teammate will apply a decisive touch. But no one can reach it.
56 min: Kent is upended by Llambrich a few yards outside the box after a loverly burst. A freekick in a promising location ...
53 min: Rangers win a corner following a decent move, with Arfield heavily involved. Tavernier and Kent combine for a short one before Tavernier hoists in a high cross. Lafferty does well to keep it in play on the far side. But a scruffy attack soon fizzles out. Still, at least Rangers spent a bit of time down the right end of the pitch after Villarreal dominated the start of the second half.
50 min: Cazorla and Fornals carve open Rangers again with some neat interplay at the edge of the box. Cazorla serves the ball back across goal from the byline. It travels beyond the far post, where Ekambi arrives to blaze it over the bar! Rangers are lucky to still be only a goal down.
49 min: Ekambi breaks the Rangers’ offside trap ... and McGregor charges out of his box to take the ball off the striker’s foot! But it breaks to Bacca, who has a free shot at an empty goal from 25 yards ... and he sidefoots it a yard wide of the near post!
48 min: A good corner by Tavernier is headed clear. Setpieces look Rangers’ best hope.
47 min: Villarreal make a snappy start to the second half. They are sharper and more nimble than Rangers. But an attempted pass to Bacca is slightly overhit, ruining a promising move.
46 min: Neither manager has made personnel alterations. “rangers have got to be more aggressive with and without the ball,” advises Ally McCoist on BT.
Updated
Half-time: Villarreal 1-0 Rangers
Rangers conceded within the first minute and must have feared a battering but they have managed to avoid falling further behind. That’s about it as far as positives go for them from a first half in which they have never looked like equalising. Lafferty has been a lonely mule up front. Villarreal have been comfortably the better team without looking anything special. You get the feeling they’d be content to let the second half play out the same way. The onus is on Rangers to come up with something different if they’re to make a contest of this. Over to you, Stevie.
Updated
44 min: Tavernier sprints down the right and sends over a dangerous cross, which is cleared at the near post. Tavernier’s ensuing corner is not so good, however.
42 min: Halliday calmly guides the ball straight out of play when under no pressure in midfield.
40 min: Rangers can’t get a touch at the moment. And just as I write that, McGregor gets a touch, palming the ball behind after a swirling long shot by Cazorla. The corner is a plastic tree, bearing no fruit.
37 min: Lafferty goes down under a ferocious two-footed challenge by Fornals. The player got the ball and didn’t really catch Lafferty but it did not a particularly well-controlled tackle and plenty of refs would whistle. This one waves play on.
Updated
36 min: An encouraging move by Rangers concludes with Tavernier whipping in a cross for Lafferty, and Villarreal hurriedly sticking the ball out for a corner. There follows a bout of pressure from the visitors until Halliday is penalised for jumping into the keep rather than challenge legally for a cross.
35 min: Worrall makes a good solid headed clearance, fairly knocking over Bacca in the process. Always satisfying for a centreback.
34 min: Pedraza slices through Rangers’ midfield thanks to a canny one-two. Then he gets a little greedy and tries to lash one into the top corner from 25 yards when there were teammates well placed for a pass. His shot is deflected out for a corner.
32 min: Cazorla sends over an outswinging corner. Funes Mori meets it about eight yards out but misdirects his header!
30 min: Freekick to Rangers wide on the right, about 15 yards inside the Villarreal half. Tavernier lofts it towards the penalty spot. It’s cleared easily.
27 min: After a spell of blunt possession by Rangers, Villarreal threaten to score again. Bacca found space wide on the right again and played in a low pass to Ekambi. Goldson made a decisive tackle near the penalty spot, stepping in well to quash the danger.
23 min: A bit of encouragement for Rangers, as Kent embarks on a wriggly runs past a couple of opponents mid-way inside the Villarreal half. That sudden injection of quality leads to a corner for Rangers. Tavernier deposits it on top of the keeper, who clasps it safely.
21 min: Arfield is muscled off the ball in midfield - that’s happened more than once - and Villarreal rumble forward. Bacca pulls away on the right in the hope of receiving a pass from Ekambi, who duly delivers. But the Colombian then miscontrols! If he’d taken that ball cleanly, he’d have had a clear shot from the edge of the box.
19 min: Cazorla curls in a freekick from the right, all the way to the back post, where Ruiz is inexplicably unmarked. He heads the ball back across goal and it hits the arm of Barisic. The hosts demand a penalty but the referee rightly decides that the defender could do little to get out of the way.
17 min: Rangers press high in a bid to make matters awkward for Villarreal but the hosts eventually play their way out and begin an attack down the left wing. Goldson cuts it short with an ill-timed challenge and gets the inevitable yellow card.
16 min: A sloppy pass by Ekambi in midfield gives Rangers a chance to build something in the opposing half. They work it with to Candelas, who tries to pick out Lafferty with a deep cross from the right. It’s way too long.
14 min: Fornals has as bang from distance. It’s blocked but rebounds back to him and he knocks the ball wide to the right. The cross is turned behind for a corner. Cazorla delivers. Goldson heads it out to the edge of the area, from where Bacca tries an acrobatic volley. It flies high into the stands.
12 min: The picture is back and I’d like to think Ranges rattled the crossbar at least twice while service was down. But as we rejoin the action, Villarreal are all over them.
10 min: BT have lost their picture. I’m assuming that’s due to some kind of technical fault rather than they just can’t bear to watch: Rangers haven’t been that bad.
9 min: Arfield loses possession in midfield. Ekambi’s ensuing shot fro 15 yards is deflected behind for a corner. “It’s about 27•c here in Villarreal and 12•c in Glasgow!” yelps Lenny. “That could take it out of Rangers now they have to chase the game.”
5 min: Sansone curls in a freekick from the left. Coulibaly rises well to head clear.
4 min: Cazorla’s still got it! He’s spraying some beautiful passes around the pitch, continually putting Rangers on the back foot.
2 min: It’s not just Rangers and Worral who’ve endured an unfortunate start: apparently one of my trust colleagues wrote in the above standfirst that Lafferty is suspended, when, obviously, he isn’t because he is currently galumphing around up front on his lonesome. Thanks for your many elegantly-worded emails pointing out this blunder. Rest assured I pass your messages on to the guilty party in similar terms ....
1 min: That was a terribly soft way to fall behind within the first minute. Fornals slipped a low pass from midfield through to Bacca, who got lucky when an attempted flicked pass bounced off Worral and back into his path, wrongfooting Goldson in the process. Then Bacca took advantage of his good fortune in fine style, swishing the bouncing ball over McGregor and into the net from the edge of the box.
Updated
GOAL! Rangers 0-1 Villarreal (Bacca 45 seconds)
Oh dear, out the window goes Gerrard’s pre-match plans.
Updated
1 min: Villarreal v Rangers is GO!
Here come the teams. Villarreal are wearing submarine yellow while Rangers will be hoping not to sink in a white shirt with a red and blue sash. It’s still bright and sunny on the east coast of Spain and most of the travelling fans appear to have dispensed with shirts altogether. Whether that’s the reason the stadium is far from full, I couldn’t possibly say.
Updated
Gerrard's pep-talk
Quizzed by BT, Rangers’ manager says “I think we’ve got to have confidence and belief. Of course we understand the size of the test. Villarreal are a very good side with very technical players in their team. I an our exciting players to use this stage to show what they can do.”
Regarding the selection of Worral ahead of Katic, he says: “Katic has had a really packed schedule since he walked in the door. He came back from international duty and looked a little jaded.” And in light of recent woes he stresses: “ I’ve reiterated the importance of keeping 11 men on the pitch. Especially at this level because they’re very quick to get the yellow card out.”
On the off-chance that you are unaware of what a marvel it is that Santi Cazorla is able to play today, check out his recent interview with Sid Lowe. The man’s been through a heck of an ordeal. Even Rangers fans wouldn’t begrudge him a goal today, perhaps.
Updated
Teams
From the team that beat Dundee 4-0 on Saturday, Rangers drop Nikola Katic to the bench and must do without the suspended Alfredo Morelos. In come Joe Worrall - for his debut following his move from Nottingham Forest - and Kyle Lafferty. Meanwhile, the hosts make nine changes from their last league match.
Villarreal: Fernandez; Llambrich, Bonera, Ruiz, Pedraza; Sansone, Fornals, Funes Mori, Cazorla; Bacca, Ekamkbi
Subs: Asenjo, Gaspar, Moreno, Trigueros, Layun, Morianes, Chukweze
Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Worrall, Barisic; Candeias, Halliday, Coulibaly, Arfield, Kent; Lafferty.
Subs: Foderingham, Dorrans, Sadiq, McCrorie, Katic, Grezda, Middleton.
Referee: I Kovacs (Rou)
And here, in case you’re interested are the lineups for the other match in this group:
Rapid Vienna: Strebinger, Potzmann, Sonnleitner, Barac, Muldur,
Murg, Ljubicic, Schwab, Ivan, Knasmullner, Alar.
Spartak Moscow: Maksimenko, Rasskazov, Bocchetti, Dzhikija,
Melgarejo, Timofeev, Fernando, Zobnin, Lomovitskiy, Ze Luis,
Pedro Rocha.
Updated
Preamble
Hello and welcome to Rangers’ first European group game for eight years and what a doozy it is. Villarreal, regulars in the knockout stages of the Europa League, may have made a so-so strong start to their domestic season but they got their first La Liga win away to Leganes at the weekend and boast a raft of fine players (e.g. Santi Cazorla, Carlos Bacca, Gerard Moreno) who could inflict serious pain on Steven Gerrard’s side. But Rangers have shown their resilience to get this far, fighting their way through eight preliminary matches (sometimes a tad too literally, which is why Alfredo Morelos and Jon Flanagan are suspended today) and are determined to eke out at least a point today to enhance their chances of progressing from a group that also includes Spartak Moscow and Rapid Vienna.
In fact, Gerrard has even suggested his team are motivated by the possibility of becoming the first Rangers team to beat a Spanish side on their own patch, with their 12 previous attempts having yielded 10 defeats and two draws. Rangers’ history, of course, does include one momentous win in Spain: the 1972 Cup Winners Cup final, when Willie Waddell’s men threatened to humiliate Dinamo Moscow in Barcelona, racing into a 3-0 lead before conceding two goals for dramatic effect and clinging on for a famous 3-2 victory. Here’s what Gerrard’s team should be watching in the dressing room before kickoff today:
Updated
