5 May 2024 22.29 BST Gers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst talks to BT: “It is very hard to
find words. It’s been an amazing night. We said we would do everything possible, and
the players, together with the crowd, were fantastic. We made the atmosphere we needed.
You cannot write a script better than this. We are all very proud, and toasted inside
Jimmy. To win against Leipzig, who have a lot of quality, is amazing. Sparta Prague was
my first game in charge and we knew the result would take us into Europe after the
break, that was our only goal! But we took every opponent time by time, game by game,
and I am proud of our achievement. Not many players can play finals. Once you’re in,
you have to do everything to win.”
Updated at 22.32 BST
5 May 2024 22.13 BST The
goalscoring hero John Lundstram adds: “I come into tonight with a good feeling. Can we
get a result here? Of course we can, look at the place! But to actually go out and do
it, I honestly can’t put it into words how much it means to me. It’s crazy! We’ve been
through some ups and downs this season, and to come out of it in a Europa League final,
wow, what an achievement! The lads gave absolutely everything. It doesn’t go our way
sometimes, but we do, every single time. They’re a phenomenal team, and the game
changed momentum in the second half, but thankfully I’ve anticipated a knockdown and
put it in the back of the net. It’s the best night of my career by a country mile.
Jimmy was the bedrock of the club, I can’t speak highly enough of him. I want to
dedicate my goal to him, I love him to bits. ”
5 May 2024 22.09 BST James Tavernier,
the Sandy Jardine de nos jour, speaks to BT Sport. “First and foremost, we wanted to do
it for Jimmy, and I’m super proud of the effort all the lads put in. All the staff, and
all the fans. He’ll be looking down proud on all of us, and so will Walter. I’m
absolutely delighted, we’re through to the final, and you can hear the boise! It was a
tough test. It’s an unbelievable feeling, to be a European finalist, it’s what you
dream of. The boys executed our plan to a T, and I’m buzzing. We’ll go to Seville full
of confidence, but Frankfurt have got to the final for a reason. But it’s one game, and
we’ll fully back ourselves. We obviously want to win it. We want to make the fans
proud.”
5 May 2024 22.04 BST Every single Rangers player put in the performance of
their life tonight. They flew out of the blocks and Leipzig were never really able to
recover, save a brief period before and after the goal. “If there’s to be another goal
before extra time, Leipzig look much the more likely right now,” this MBM wrote,
roughly 60 seconds before John Lundstram’s winner. I can have a karmic assist for
tempting fate, right?
5 May 2024 22.00 BST Ally McCoist always finds the right words.
“Walter Smith and Jimmy will be up there, having a wee dram and a cuddle,” he says on
BT Sport. Dusty atmosphere where you are too?
5 May 2024 21.58 BST Ibrox erupts, the
Rangers players cavort ... and Jimmy Bell is looking down from somewhere, smiling at a
job well done! Rangers deservedly make it to the 2024 Europa League final! They’ll play
Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville on May 18! What a performance! To put this in context,
nine years ago yesterday, Rangers were lifting the Third Division trophy. Ready? Aye.
5
May 2024 21.53 BST 90 min +3: Kampl forces a corner down the right! Gulacsi is coming
up. The last-chance saloon for Leipzig! Can Rangers hold out?
5 May 2024 21.53 BST 90
min +2: Lundstram wins a block challenge in the centre circle and sends Sakala clear
down the middle! Sakala, one on one with Gulacsi, shoots straight at the keeper. The
flag goes up for offside anyway.
5 May 2024 21.52 BST 90 min +1: Sakala and Kent are
two on one on the counter, but somehow manage to ship possession with perhaps
understandable indecision.
5 May 2024 21.49 BST 89 min: Kamara takes the ball off
Laimer’s toe. It’s a fine challenge, and he should win a free kick, the Leipzig man
catching him on the follow through. But he doesn’t get one.
5 May 2024 21.48 BST 87
min: Pinball in the Rangers box. Hearts in mouths. Eventually the ball clanks off the
referee, to Rangers’ great relief. The referee sends Leipzig away, and drops the ball
for McGregor to pick up. The home side got away with one there!
5 May 2024 21.46 BST 85
min: Henrichs loops a cross in from the right. Silva challenges McGregor, but the
keeper makes the catch. Leipzig come again, Halstenberg forcing a corner down the left.
From which ...
5 May 2024 21.44 BST 84 min: Ibrox is a bubbling cauldron of excitement
and angst. It’s a very long time until the whistle blows. Last night at the Bernabeu
taught us that.
Updated at 21.47 BST
5 May 2024 21.44 BST 83 min: Leipzig have
responded to going behind in the tie by making a double change. Poulsen and Angelino
are replaced by Halstenberg and Silva.
5 May 2024 21.43 BST 82 min: Sakala dribbles
down the left and cuts in from the wing. He finds Kent on the edge of the box. Chance
to shoot! But Kent can’t control Leipzig clear.
5 May 2024 21.42 BST GOAL! Rangers 3-1
RB Leipzig (Lundstram 80); agg 3-2 ... Gulasci flaps. Gvardiol stops the ball going in,
but it breaks back to Lundstram, who slams the loose ball home from six yards! Rangers
are back in the lead, and ten minutes plus stoppages away from the final! Wow! What a
game! Photograph: Russell Cheyne/Reuters
Updated at 21.47 BST
5 May 2024 21.41 BST 80
min: Salaka is brought to a juddering halt down the right, and it’s a chance for
Rangers to line up on the edge of the Leipzig box. Tavernier swings the free kick long.
Kent chips in from the left, and ...
5 May 2024 21.39 BST 79 min: The tension is
palpable, though, as the increasingly dangerous Nkunku whistles another cross through
the Rangers box from the right. If there’s to be another goal before extra time,
Leipzig look much the more likely right now.
5 May 2024 21.38 BST 77 min: Rangers have
settled a little, and are pushing up the park. Van Bronckhorst has, in no uncertain
terms, told Tavernier not to sit so deep.
5 May 2024 21.37 BST 76 min: ... so having
said that, Lundstram wins a corner down the right. He’s not booked after the first stop
in play, though, despite having wrestled Nkunku to the ground back there in pretty
brazen fashion. Nothing comes of the corner.
5 May 2024 21.36 BST 75 min: ... Laimer
strides towards the Rangers box. He slips wide right for Nkunku, whose low fizzing
cross only evades the toe of Szoboszlai by inches. Rangers are rocking here.
5 May 2024
21.35 BST 74 min: Lundstram cleans out Nkunku in the centre circle. But the referee
waves play on, because ...
Updated at 21.36 BST
5 May 2024 21.34 BST 72 min: That’s
taken some of the air out of Ibrox all right. Rangers will have to clear their heads,
because Leipzig were well on top in the lead-up to the goal. Tense, tense, tense.
Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images
Updated at 21.46 BST
5 May 2024 21.32 BST
GOAL! Rangers 2-1 Leipzig (Nkunku 70); agg 2-2 This had been coming. Angelino crosses
low from the left. Nkunku meets the ball first time, steering a pacy sidefooted effort
into the right-hand side of the net! McGregor had no chance, and the tie is
level!
Updated at 21.33 BST
5 May 2024 21.31 BST 69 min: Space for Szoboszlai down the
middle. He attempts to release Nkunku, waiting on the edge of the Rangers box. Blue
shirts surround and clear. But Leipzig come again, and Laimer sashays into the Rangers
area unchallenged, down the middle. He opens his body and looks to steer into the
bottom right ... but McGregor parries clear! What a save!
5 May 2024 21.29 BST 68 min:
Kent dribbles in from the left and, for a minute, things look like opening up for him.
But he’s swarmed by white shirts, and his eventual pass towards Arfield, the only man
who has kept up with play, is no good.
5 May 2024 21.27 BST 67 min: Angelino crosses
from the left. Nkunku flicks a header towards nowhere and nobody in particular.
McGregor is happy with an easy claim.
5 May 2024 21.25 BST 65 min: Szoboszlai is
checked by Balogun out on the left. The free kick is sent long, towards the far stick
by Angelino. Gvardiol stretches but can only clank the ball into the side netting.
5
May 2024 21.24 BST 64 min: Barisic is sent scampering down the left touchline by Kent.
He whips a cross in, hoping to find Sakala, but the wily Orban is positioned well to
flick clear.
5 May 2024 21.23 BST 61 min: Arfield, striding down the right, thinks
about spectacularly volleying Goldson’s diagonal pass goalwards. Instead he lets the
ball bounce, and looks to have lost it, but suddenly spins away from Klostermann and
Angelino near the right-hand corner flag. He runs along the byline and looks for Sakala
at the far post, but gets the pass all wrong and it’s an easy collect for Gulacsi. Had
he found his man, Sakala was tapping in from a couple of yards.
5 May 2024 21.20 BST 59
min: A double change for Rangers. Arfield and Balogun come on for Wright and Jack, the
latter having felt something and indicated to his bench that he can’t continue.
5 May
2024 21.18 BST 57 min: Kampl and Poulsen cause trouble on the edge of the Rangers box,
nearly combining to break through on the right. The home team hold firm, but there’s a
sense that Leipzig are beginning to dominate possession for the first time this
evening.
5 May 2024 21.15 BST 55 min: Leipzig stroke it around the back to deafening
whistles of derision from the Ibrox faithful. Kevin Kampl tries to give his side some
energy in this second half. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images
Updated at 21.19
BST
5 May 2024 21.14 BST 53 min: Lundstram crosses from the right. The ball’s deflected
out for a corner. Tavernier swings it long. Goldson rises high but can’t connect. He’s
convinced he was pushed, but he’s not getting the penalty decision, rightly so because
there wasn’t much in it. The ball comes back in from the other flank, and Sakala skims
a header wide right from six yards.
5 May 2024 21.13 BST 52 min: Van Bronckhorst isn’t
happy with the referee. Nothing major, just a relentless drip, drip, drip of decisions
not going their way. Imagine the ironic cheers, then, when Kampl is booked for a clip
on Wright as the Rangers forward dribbles down the left.
5 May 2024 21.10 BST 49 min:
Goldson forces a Leipzig mistake in the centre circle and Sakala is sent on his first
run down the inside left. He’s got half a chance of finding Wright in the middle, but
doesn’t spot the pass and runs off down a cul-de-sac. Some promise here, though,
especially if Leipzig are still searching for a goal later on, and start throwing more
men forward.
5 May 2024 21.07 BST 47 min: All a bit scrappy in the opening stages of
the second half. Rangers will take 22 more phases like this.
5 May 2024 21.06 BST
Rangers get the second half underway. “Rangers have been phenomenal,” writes Steven
Grundy. “Kent has been a live wire on that flank and Tav is his usual fantastic self.
I’m a bit worried about three of our defenders getting carded in the first 45. Perhaps
GvB should take Goldson off?” Perhaps ... but he’s not done so yet. No half-time
changes. We go on.
5 May 2024 20.49 BST 45 min +2: Aribo is happily back on his feet,
but he doesn’t look too clever, and Rangers are taking no chances whatsoever. He walks
off groggy, and is replaced by Sakala. Joe Aribo is helped off the pitch and
substituted Photograph: Russell Cheyne/Reuters
Updated at 20.52 BST
5 May 2024 20.48
BST 45 min +1: The board goes up for one extra first-half minute, though with the
stretcher coming on, there will be more than that.
5 May 2024 20.47 BST 45 min:
Angelino smacks the free kick straight at the wall, and Aribo takes the ball flush in
his startled coupon. He falls forward to the floor and the referee waves on the
physio.
5 May 2024 20.46 BST 44 min: Henrichs spins Barisic down the right and is just
about to enter the Rangers box and shoot when he’s clipped from behind. Barisic becomes
the third Rangers player to go into the book ... and this is a free kick in a very
dangerous position, just in front of the right-hand corner of the box. Borna Barisic s
booked for this foul on Benjamin Henrichs. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty
Images
Updated at 20.51 BST
5 May 2024 20.44 BST 43 min: Poulsen romps into space down
the left, hugging the touchline. He curls a tempting low ball into the box towards
Nkunku, but Barisic reads the danger and gets in between man and ball, six yards out.
5
May 2024 20.43 BST 41 min: Another chance for Aribo to shoot, as he spins into space
and strides down the inside-right channel. But again he looks for Wright, and plays the
ball behind his team-mate. Rangers certainly look like they have more goals in them.
5
May 2024 20.41 BST 40 min: Aribo has the opportunity to shoot from a position to the
right of the D, but perhaps shaken by his earlier miss, opts to roll wide for Wright
instead. The move breaks down. “Loving your Sandy Jardine love, Scott,” writes Robin
Durie. “I had the privilege of watching him at Tynecastle, when he and Alex MacDonald
came over from Rangers, and took Hearts on the amazing roller-coaster that was the
1985—86 season.”
5 May 2024 20.40 BST 38 min: Goldson clips Henrichs out on the right
wing. That could easily have been a second yellow, so he’s fortunate the referee only
awards the free kick. Angelino swings it long to Orban at the back post. Orban slaps
his header wide left from close range. For the first time this evening, tension rather
than passion is the top note in Ibrox.
