Rangers suffer shock Euro defeat

Posted July 27, 2011 09:53:30

Rangers' hopes of making the Champions League group stages hang by a thread after Malmo claimed a deserved 1-0 win at Ibrox in the first leg of their third qualifying round match on Tuesday.

The Swedes, who are half-way through their season, started the match far sharper than the Scottish champions and secured a vital away goal through a wonder striker from Daniel Larsson in the 16th minute.

Malmo continued to have the better chances with Brazilian Wilton Figueiredo causing several panics in the Rangers defence.

Steven Naismith twice missed gilt edged chances for Rangers after the break but Allan McGregor was by far the busier keeper as Malmo take a vital advantage into next week's second leg tie in Sweden.

"One of the worrying things from our point of view is we didn't start the game at all well," Rangers manager Ally McCoist said of his first European match in charge at Ibrox.

"But I do believe we created enough in the second-half to indicate that the tie is far from over. I really believe we can go over there and score so there's all to play for."

Rikard Norling felt his side had started the game well.

"We kept them back a bit by playing the ball well. That gave us a good start into the game," the Malmo coach said.

"We played a very good side and it will be difficult for us at home as well. We will have to be at our best."

In another shock, Dynamo Kiev, which left out former European footballer of the year Andriy Shevchenko, slumped to a 2-0 home defeat against Rubin Kazan in their first-leg tie.

Elsewhere, 1966 European Cup runners-up Partizan Belgrade lost 2-1 at Belgian league champions Racing Genk while Dutch side Twente Enschede eased past Romanians Vaslui 2-0 thanks to a double from Austria striker Marc Janko.

The third qualifying round winners are battling for a spot in the pla-yoff matches where they could seal a berth in the competition proper.

AFP/Reuters

Topics: champions-league, soccer, sport, scotland, united-kingdom, sweden

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-27/rangers-suffer-shock-euro-defeat/2812280

football science technology news sport