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Rangers 2 PSV 2: Colak and Lawrence put Gers on brink of huge win but Dutch leave tie all to play for


PSV’s goalkeeper chucked one in.

But this was night when it felt like it was Rangers who let a precious first-leg victory slip from their grasp.

Antonio Colak celebrates scoring the equaliser

Walter Benitez made a £40million mistake at Ibrox as he spilled a speculative Tom Lawrence free-kick into his net.

But after battling back from a goal down to take the lead Giovanni Van Bronckhorst’s side let the Dutch side off the hook.

Ruud van Nistlerooy’s men went ahead through Ibrahim Sangaré before Antonio Colak made it 1-1 with his fourth goal in four games.

That Lawrence strike and monumental goalkeeping error turned the tie on its head.

But unfortunately Giovanni Van Bronckhorst’s side conceded a late second goal on the night to Armando Obispo.

It’s still there for Rangers ahead of next week’s return leg in Eindhoven – but the frustration is that this result could have been even better.

Dutch teams rarely lack confidence and PSV were no different.

Van Nistelrooy’s stylish side had a real swagger about them in this first-leg both individually and collectively.

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In winger Cody Gakpo they have a £40million player Manchester United see as the answer to their problems.

Sir Alex Ferguson watched from the director’s box and is sure to have been impressed with the way the 23 year-old swanned around the pitch.

For the first half hour the signs were worrying for Van Bronckhorst’s side with meaningful possession hard to come by.

PSV could have gone ahead inside the first handful of minutes but thankfully Luuk de Jong failed to his the target with a wayward volley.

It was a proper let-off.

With the rain falling the pitch was fast and slick and it definitely suited the Dutch outfit.

Big Sangaré controlled the game from the middle of the park with his ability on the ball frightening.

Rangers slowly but surely played their way into it, though, and started to test keeper Walter Benitez.

Malik Tillman had a difficult first-half by his standards with his touch letting him down more often than not.

But he had Rangers’ first real attempt at goal with a shot from the edge of the box after 22 minutes.

Soon after that he got into a good position inside the penalty area but just couldn’t sort his feet out to get a dig away.

The home fans took a huge lift from those opportunities and did everything to give their team a jolt of adrenaline.

They screamed for a penalty on the half-hour mark when a corner appeared to handled in the air by Jordan Teze.

But the Italian referee signalled he’d seen the incident clearly and there was no VAR intervention going Rangers’ way.

It was all so fast and furious with Rangers doing everything to take the lead.

But soon it was the 600 PSV supporters who were celebrating as their side took the lead after 36 minutes.

It was such a scrappy, ugly goal to concede from a Rangers point of view with their defending at a corner letting them down.

Connor Goldson didn’t get any purchase on his attempted headed clearance with the ball hitting his skipper Tavernier.

André Ramalho stuck out a leg to divert the ball back to Sangare who lashed it past Jon McLaughlin and into the net.

With 37 minutes on the clock it was tough on Rangers who’d just started to impose themselves.

Yet is PSV thought they were going to get it easy after taking the lead they had another think coming.

Within just three minutes to be exact.

Rangers made it 1-1 with a brilliantly worked goal down the right with Steven Davis playing a sensational little ball for Tavernier.

He darted onto it, lifted his head and picked out Colak with a perfect cut-back.

There was still plenty for the Croatian striker to do to find the net but his finish couldn’t have been better as it found the bottom corner.

PSV started to show signs of rocking as Rangers went for them in the closing minutes of the half. But they managed to into the away changing room level.

The tie was on a knife-edge going into the second half with anything possible.

Colak came close to grabbing his second of the night but Benitez pulled off a save before PSV raised their game again.

Rangers got lucky three times in quick succession

Ismael Saibari nipped between Goldson and Borna Barisic before stabbing his shot half a yard wide of the target.

He then blasted over before drilling another effort straight at keeper McLaughlin who got everything behind it.

With 25 minutes left to play the Dutch side fancied their chances of getting another goal with Rangers looking weary.

Davis and John Lundstram were terrific in the first-half but their energy levels dropped and they fell out of the game the longer it wore on.

It was beginning to feel like a 1-1 draw would be a good result for Rangers.

But then out of nothing Rangers were given a gift in 70 minutes.

Tillman was fouled 30 yards from goal with Lawrence grabbing the ball and sizing it up.

It looked like he was too far out to trouble the keeper.

But the midfielder’s dipping effort deceived Benitez who let the ball squirm through his grasp and into the net.

Ibrox erupted but soon heads were in hands as PSV levelled with 12 minutes of normal time left.

Once again Rangers failed to deal with a corner with Obispo out-jumping Goldson to power his header into the net off the underside of the crossbar.


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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk


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