PHILIPPE CLEMENT said before kick-off a Rangers victory could become an exhibit in the Ibrox museum.
Unfortunately, his team’s Europa League campaign is now a thing of the past.
The Belgian’s side gave everything for a priceless result to take them into the last eight of the competition.
But it’s Benfica who got the win to take into their history books.
Rafa Silva’s crucial goal that separated these two sides over legs was initially disallowed for off-side but a VAR check confirmed the strike would stand.
It was an agonising end of this Euro run that had Rangers supporters dreaming of reaching the final in Dublin in May.
But the 50,000 inside Ibrox for this early kick-off saluted the efforts of their heroes after the final whistle.
There’s no shame whatsoever in losing to the Portuguese giants.
But in the cold light of day, Clement and his players will believe they passed up a glorious opportunity to reach the quarter finals.
Had Cyriel Dessers taken a big chance at the start of the second half here it could easily have turned out different.
In the end it wasn’t to be, but there were still some big, imposing performances out there for Rangers.
Skipper James Tavernier was immense in both directions down the right flank.
Big John Souttar was the same. If not better.
The Scotland centre-back was aggressive and decisive when he had to go and win the ball on the deck or in the air.
When he was in possession he was calm and cool, fizzing balls forward into the feet of the midfielders ahead of him.
There were still moments of anxiety in the first-half that would have worried Clement.
John Lundstram was a key man bringing the ball out from the back with Souttar and Connor Goldson splitting.
But the best Benfica chance of the opening 45 minutes came when the Scouse defender took his eye off the ball in the middle of the park and lost it.
Thankfully for Lundstram, Tavernier made a timely last ditch block to make sure all the Portuguese side got out of it was a corner.
All in all, there wasn’t a great deal between the sides by the time the half-time whistle went.
Rangers could have been ahead given how much of the ball they enjoyed. Yet they didn’t trouble goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin nearly enough.
The Ukrainian did make one impressive save to keep out a shot from Dessers, but the Ibrox striker had wandered into an off-side position when Tom Lawrence picked him out. Even had Trubin not made the stop, it wouldn’t have counted.
There were other moments that had the home support up off their seats.
Lawrence fired an early shot on target that the Benfica No1 almost spilled into his net.
Scott Wright – in the line-up with Dujon Sterling injured – was also lively whenever he got into the final third.
It was just the final ball that let Rangers down.
For all their good play, they didn’t carve out a big chance to take the lead before the interval and that would have been something that frustrated Clement and his backroom staff.
Benfica would certainly have been the happier of the two teams that there was still nothing between the sides when they came back out.
They made a change for the restart, striker Casper Tengstedt replacing Marcos Leonardo which was a sign that their coach, Roger Schmidt, wanted more from his attack.
Just two minutes into the second-half, though, it was Rangers who had to expect better from their frontman.
Wright did brilliantly to burst forward and pick out Dessers inside the box.
But after chopping inside, the Belgian fired his shot with his right foot – when he should have used his left – and he didn’t get nearly enough power on it with the opportunity wasted.
It was still a good restart, though, and a sign that Rangers could be the team that got the next goal in the tie.
They still had to be careful at the back.
Goldson picked up a booking for hauling back Rafa Silva as he got away from him and, in truth, it was probably a good yellow card to get. If anything, he should have fouled him sooner. Or harder.
Because in 66 minutes it was the little forward who made it 1-0 to Benfica.
The galling thing for Rangers was that it came from a corner they had at the other end.
But, like they did all night, they didn’t leave enough cover back on the halfway line and they were wide open to be hit on the break.
Could Dessers have done better inside the Benfica box to stop the attack unfolding in the first place?
It certainly looked that way.
But you had to credit Angel Di Maria for setting up Silva with a perfectly timed pass which saw the Portuguese burst from his own half and into the Rangers box to beat Butland.
At first it looked like the goal would be ruled out for off-side after the linesman raised his flag.
But an agonising VAR check confirmed that Silva was in his own half when Di Maria passed to him and that the strike would stand.
Rangers ran out of legs in the closing minutes despite changed and Benfica held on to take their place in the today’s draw for the next round.
Team news
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
