VAR controversy, red card ‘stupidity’ and ‘horrible’ defending – how Rangers’ dramatic UEFA Europa League night at Ibrox unfolded

It would have, and should have been Rangers’ first Europa League win of the season, holding a 1-0 lead when gaining a numerical advantage following Rodrigo Zalazar’s 61st-minute sending off, which attracted fierce criticism from TNT Sports’ Ally McCoist.

The league phase table makes for grim reading for Rangers: four defeats and a draw has them sitting 33rd, and their qualification hopes for the knockout stages hang by the thinnest of threads.

Danny Rohl’s side were serenaded with a smattering of boos at Ibrox as the full-time whistle blew, but perhaps most damning of all was the deafening silence, at what is typically a vociferous venue.

Sometimes, apathy is the more telling than overt condemnation, and TNT Sports’ panel of experts have been left almost bemused by the position Rangers find themselves in.

“That’s a game Rangers should have won and would have won a couple of seasons ago,” a worried McCoist said.

‘I really hope I’m wrong’ – McCoist reveals his ‘big concern’ about Rangers after Braga draw

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“My concern is, and it’s a big concern, I’m not sure, sadly, if the team is capable of a lot better than that. I really hope I’m wrong. Yes, they can do different things and selective things better. For example, you can’t make mistakes like the goal, that’s just poor defending.

“But I’m not sure that group of players can take Rangers to the next level, or the level they want to be at. Time will tell, and you have no idea how much I hope I’m wrong, but I think there’s an awful lot of work to be done.”

‘Worse than a 12-year-old kid’

The verdicts of TNT Sports pundits Alan Hutton and Johann Mjallby were scathing after they felt Rangers missed a huge opportunity to put some valuable points on the board.

“Yeah, definitely is,” Hutton said when asked if Rangers had missed an important opportunity.

“It was all about three points tonight, they came away with one. Overall, watching that, you’re left scratching your head.

“There’s not much connection in the forward areas, they lack intensity at times. Braga down to 10 men, you want to put your foot to the floor and really press forward, get balls into the box, I don’t see that in this team.”

Rangers were on course for a first win in the competition after going a goal up through James Tavarnier’s penalty, and Braga going a man down.

But a monumental mistake from Nasser Djiga was punished. The defender headed the ball straight into Gabri Martinez’s feet from a cross which was never threatening Rangers, and could quite easily have been left.

Hutton suggested Rangers are lacking “leaders,” but feels January cannot come soon enough for Rohl’s side, with defensive improvements at the top of their priorities.

“They need help,” Hutton continued. “That’s the be-all and end-all, to get to January and try and get reinforcements in. Some leaders within that group that can really drag them forward.

“After watching that, it’s going to take a while to fix this. There’s a lot of problems from the start of the season we’re still seeing, especially defensively. They need a lot of help, a lot of work on and off the pitch.”

Mjallby was more direct in his criticism, likening Rangers’ defensive display to that of a children’s team.

Rangers ‘ruthlessly exposed’ as Martinez scores from close range to draw Braga level

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“We spoke about back to basics defending for Rangers tonight,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how many hours you put on the training ground if you make mistakes like that.

“I know it was windy, blustery, that was way worse than a 12-year-old kid defending. You need to defend much better here. Rohl will be so disappointed. It’s not about tactics, or shape, this is just errors from players.”

McCoist broadly agreed with that assessment, albeit, less scathing: “You can do all the coaching you like but if you’re making individual errors like that you have no chance.

“You can’t make mistakes like that. Yes, it was windy, of course is was windy, but there was no one near him, no pressure, that’s a mistake that at any level of football, you don’t want to make. Really poor basic defending gone wrong.”

Red card ‘stupidity’

With his side chasing the game, Braga midfielder Zalazar involved himself in an act of “stupidity,” as he multiplied the difficulty of his side’s task with a straight red card.

After the Uruguay midfielder attempted to headbutt Nicolas Raskin, referee Allard Lindhout was soon sent to the monitor to run the rule over the severity of the act – and the outcome was not favourable for the visitors.

While the contact was not so damning, the intention was clear – and it left McCoist fuming in the commentary box.

‘Stupidity is what it is’ – Braga’s Zalazar shown a straight red for ‘headbutt’

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“That motion (throwing his head downward) is not good at all. It’s stupidity, that’s what it is,” he said.

“Absolutely ridiculous, it really is. He obviously just catches his nose on the way down. It’s not even a headbutt motion, it’s a downward motion, looks terrible, he has got absolutely no complaints at all, and why would you?

“If you’re one of his team-mates, his coach, or his manager, you’re absolutely livid with him.”

VAR plays its part

As it tends to do in frenetic European encounters, VAR played a sizeable role in the clash with some key interventions.

Its first was to deny Rangers a penalty when Djeidi Gassama felt he had been felled by Victor Gomez while leaping to meet a ball in.

Rangers would get their first-half penalty though, which was converted by Tavernier. The infringement was fairly innocuous, but when Lindhout was sent to the monitor for a Fran Navarro handball following a Rangers corner, the outcome appeared increasingly inevitable.

‘Very harsh’ – Diomande receives marching orders after second yellow card for Rangers

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“Navarro, he goes to clear the ball, he actually looks a bit nervous of getting hit,” McCoist said. “What he does then, he throws his arm out. We know, when that happens, your arm is outstretched from your body, it’s going to be a penalty kick. I think it’s the right decision.”

The VAR monitor was, of course, required to assess the Zalazar incident in the second half, with the general concensus that the correct decision had been reached. But there was yet more technology-aided drama to come.

In the 81st minute, it was then the turn of the visitors to try and win a decision of their own when substitute Bojan Miovski leaned into a clearance and the ball appeared to strike his shoulder.

Braga players surrounded the referee, only for VAR to virtually wave the incident away.

Perhaps a stroke of luck for Rangers, but they would soon fall on the wrong side of a decision, and one that did not require VAR, as they were reduced to 10 players in stoppage-time, with Mohamed Diomande sent off for his yellow card of the night, aggravating the sour taste in the mouths of the Ibrox crowd.

Can the wind be blamed?

When talking about Djiga’s costly mistake in the second half, Rangers manager Danny Rohl said that playing against the wind was a factor.

Braga’s long throw-in did cause troubles for Djiga as the ball swerved down towards him, but his panic got the better of him.

His head coach, at least, acknowledged the tough conditions he was faced with.

“It was one key moment and this was a throw-in,” Rohl said. “We won’t look for excuses but in the second half, with the wind, against the wind it’s always difficult. There’s no question mark for me today about our progress.

‘A good step that we are disappointed’ – Rohl admits Rangers unhappy with Braga draw

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“We came from 3-0, 2-0, and today (for) 65 minutes (it was) a good game. We keep the ball more and more, we create more confidence. The lead was deserved. It’s a good step that we are disappointed because we know we can do more, but no question mark about their progress.

“We had some (occasions) where (we) made not the right pass, or not in the right direction. But for me it’s about the step forward, and this is a good step forward.

“Every week I see a step forward, sometimes bigger steps, sometimes smaller steps. And today in Europe, we showed we are competitive.”