Sporting Lisbon vs Rangers - Europa League full time match report
The Rangers travelled to the Estadio Jose Alvalade to take on Sporting Lisbon in what was a must win game for both the teams in their Europa League encounter. Rangers Maurice Edu leveled the score at 2-2 and helped the his side squeak by into the next round.
The line-ups on the night were as follows:
Sporting Lisbon: Rui Patricio, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Evaldo-c12981, Mendes, Abel, Fernandez, Zapater, Djalo, Postiga
Subs: Tiago, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Coelho-c9381, Cristiano
Rangers: McGregor, Foster, Bougherra, Weir, Papac, Whittaker, Davis, Bartley, Fleck, Edu, Diouf
Subs: Alexander, Lafferty, Healy, Weiss, Wylde, Hutton, Cole
The match kicked off with both teams looking to cancel each other out early on. However in only the 5th minute, Whittaker lost the ball in a dangerous area as Djalo robbed the player and raced on towards the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rangers-c40314 goal. His effort on goal was a tame one and the visitors managed to avoid the early scare with ease.
In the 19th minute Rangers took the lead. Davis whipped in a cross which was met by the on-loan El Hadji Diouf as he planted his header into the back of the net. Sporting did not let goal go unanswered and replied in the 40th minute with an equaliser. Helder Posting rolled on a ball through to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pedro-Mendes-c29617, who was some twenty yards from the Rangers goal. The midfielder then went on to rifle a shot that flew into the back of the net.
However despite that goal, there was a lot of work for Sporting to do as the Rangers still had the away goal working in their favour. The first half came to a close with both sides being level at one goal apiece but with Rangers holding the upper hand in the tie.
In the second-half, both teams exploded onto the scene with the next round still up for grabs. Both Rangers and Sporting were creating chance after chance and it was only a matter of time before one of the sides got another goal on the night. Then in the 81st minute, Sporting finally took the lead and the upper hand in the tie. Yannick Djalo managed to race onto a cross that was whipped in by Pereira and thanks to some terrible defending by Rangers, the player got the second goal for the home-side. This second goal also managed to chalk off the away goal advantage that Rangers possessed just moments earlier.
However just when it seemed like the clock would run out with Sporting walking through to the next round, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Maurice-Edu-c24896 scored a very very late goal. In the second minute of stoppage time Edu raced to meet a cross from Healey and went on to convert one of the most crucial goals of his career.
As a result of that goal Rangers managed to progress through to the next round despite the scores being level in the game.
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