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No chance: Glasgow's Calvin Bassey (centre) has the ball and the game under control
Photo: IMAGO/Sven Sonntag / IMAGO/Picture Point LE
The explosion:
Leipzig kept the Ibrox Stadium and its terribly loud fans
relatively
quiet for a good quarter of an hour.
Then Glen Kamara artistically won a duel against two RB players on the sidelines and stuck through to Ryan Kent.
He entered the penalty area from the left and found James Tavernier at the far post, who pushed the ball over the line.
The nearly 50,000 fans roared, cheered and cried.
The blast became a hurricane.
Result:
Glasgow Rangers won the semi-final second leg of the Europa League 3-1 (2-0) against RB Leipzig.
After the 0-1 (0-0) in the first leg, the Scots are in the final of a European cup competition for the fifth time.
Here is the match report.
First half:
Tavernier's 1-0 made RB wobble.
Just five minutes later, Kamara increased the lead to 2-0 with a low shot from 18 meters (24th minute).
Dani Olmo missed the first good opportunity for the guests (28'), in return Joe Aribo gave up the 3-0 when he failed to get the ball over the line from three meters (29').
The attacker had to leave the field just before the half-time whistle when he was hit in the temple by a powerful free-kick.
It was far too passive a performance by Leipzig in the first 45 minutes, with no ball on goal.
Mister 1: 0:
Unimportant goals are not his thing: Tavernier had already scored 1-0 against Braga in the second leg of the quarter-finals, scored 1-0 against Belgrade in the round of 16 and in the round before that when progressing against Dortmund in both the first and second leg marked 1-0.
Second half:
Rangers coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who has succeeded Steven Gerrard since November 2021, was initially able to remain relaxed.
His team continued to be more present and kept the opponent well away from their own goal.
Leipzig only got involved in the game after 70 minutes: First, Konrad Laimer was denied by 40-year-old goalkeeper Allan McGregor, then seconds later Christopher Nkunku scored after a dream cross from Angeliño (70').
It was the Frenchman's 32nd competitive goal this season.
At Rangers, the forces were now dwindling, RB was on top.
But the game took an unexpected turn again: Kent's treacherous cross was just cleared off the line by Leipzig, and John Lundstram converted the follow-up shot to progress (81').
The force of tradition:
RB coach Domenico Tedesco was still optimistic before the game: "All the players know what to expect here.
The fans are huge here.
We're looking forward to it.« Tedesco might have been happier if more people from Leipzig had found their way to Scotland.
2200 spectators should have brought the guests to Glasgow, but only 1000 tickets were called up.
So the blue-red-white pressure wave remained unbroken.
For Jimmy Bell:
On Sunday he had watched the “Old Firm” against city rivals Celtic, kit manager and club legend Jimmy Bell died unexpectedly on Tuesday at the age of 69.
Rangers captain Tavernier praised him as "the beating heart and soul of our club".
Bell was at the club for 36 years, and Rangers commemorated him with a minute's silence before kick-off.
Bad times at the wrong time:
Last weekend, RB fell out of the Champions League ranks due to the 3-1 league defeat at Borussia Mönchengladbach, now the semi-finals in the Europa League followed.
You still have two matchdays to conquer the important fourth place.
Otherwise, a defeat in the final of the DFB Cup against SC Freiburg threatens an unsatisfactory end to a season that started so badly, but then, after a strong performance under new coach Tedesco, invited dreams of titles and the premier class.
Final in Seville:
On May 18 (9 p.m.) there will be a desired final for nostalgics between Rangers FC and Eintracht Frankfurt, who prevailed against West Ham United.
A duel with history: On May 5, 1960, exactly 62 years ago, Eintracht qualified for the final of the European Cup with a 6-3 win over Rangers.
The Europa League could not have wished for a more historic and atmospheric conclusion.
