Liam Kelly was the unlikely hero as the goalkeeper, promoted to the starting XI in place of Jack Butland, made a stunning save from Alex Berenguer’s penalty to earn Rangers a 0-0 draw against Athletic Club in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League quarter-final tie.
After Robin Propper was sent off in the 13th minute for a foul on Inaki Williams, the hosts faced a difficult challenge. The defender was originally only shown a yellow for a tackle on the edge of the area, but that decision was upgraded to a red for denying an obvious goalscoring chance following VAR intervention.
Despite their man advantage, it took a while for the visitors to truly test goalkeeper Liam Kelly, but as half-time approached, he made two fine stops from Maroan Sannadi and Oihan Sancet.
However, Rangers had chances at the other end as Cyriel Dessers came close twice, once with a flashing shot from a distance that went wide and the other time with an unmarked header that went over the bar. "The result feels good; I'm not sure I'd say it feels like a win, but we have set ourselves up for a good game next week," said Rangers midfielder Ianis Hagi. It will be difficult. In addition to being one of the best teams in Europe, it's a stadium I know from my time on loan with Alavés in Spain." Barry Ferguson, Rangers interim coach: "That was a proper Rangers performance. That's the exact reaction I wanted. That's what I spoke about on Monday and the players tonight showed a performance full of heart, grit and determination."
Daniel Vivian, Athletic Club defender: "We know we had a big chance tonight to get a result to take back to Bilbao, but 0-0 is still a good result for us. The red card allowed us to launch a lot of attacks. We weren't able to score, but we know we can at San Mamés." Rangers: Kelly; Sterling, Pröpper, Balogun; Tavernier, Rice (Barron 68), Raskin, Rıdvan Yılmaz (Jefté 69); Černý (McCausland 90+6), Dessers (Igamane 85), Hagi (N. 90+5) Bajrami Athletic Club: Agirrezabala, De Marcos (Gorosabel 90+4), Vivian, Yeray lvarez, and Iigo Lekue; Ruiz De Galarreta (Prados 63), Jaureguizar, and I. Williams, Sancet (Berenguer 74), N. Sannadi; Williams (Guruzeta 62)
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