Malmo versus Rangers – UEFA Champions League qualification: Second leg – First half (Part 1)
Rangers took on Malmo in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League qualification in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sweden-c3015 after losing the first leg to the Swedish champions by a goal to nil. Both the teams took to the field in attacking fashion but Rangers
were dealt a blow in the lead up to the match as it was confirmed that their new signing Dorian Gray would miss the tie against Malmo due to a hamstring problem.
Moreover, Rangers had an uphill task right from the start against the home team as they were faced with a full house of away crowd as the Scottish giants’ own fans had been banned from travelling to Sweden in order to support their
club side as per UEFA regulations due to their previous misdemeanours last season.
Malmo’s starting line up included the likes of D. Melicharek, J. Hamad, D. Andersson, P. Jansson, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ricardinho-c30946, I. Pekalski, J. Durmaz, M. Mutavdzic, W. Figueiredo, D. Larsson and A. Mehmeti. On the other hand, Rangers went with
a solid looking 4-4-2 formation which was based on their midfield strength provided by the likes of Papac, Davies and McCulloch. Up front, Jelavic and Naismith partnered each other whilst at the back http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wallace-c36575, Whittaker and Bougherra provided protection
to McGregor’s goal.
Rangers started the match strongly as in the 2nd minute of the encounter, Jelavic was clean through on goal after a superb through ball by Davis. Rangers’ midfielder found space in between the Malmo defenders with his
incisive pass but unfortunately for the visiting team their striker was in an offside position when the ball was played and as a result the linesman on the far side raised his flag to give a free kick to the home team.
In the 3rd minute, Malmo were on the front foot. The Swedish giants tried to send Larsson http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Racing-c40298 in behind the Rangers’ back four but their offside trap was executed to perfection as this time Larsson was signalled offside
by the linesman. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rangers-c40314 started with a positive mindset to the encounter, this was evident through their high defensive line which helped them squeeze the play into Malmo’s half of the field and in doing so it also allowed them to force their opponents into
mistakes.
In the 4th minute, Bougherra’s wayward pass caused havoc in Rangers defence but luckily for the Scottish giants, their experienced centre back Papac recovered the ball in time and bailed his team out of trouble. Shortly
after, Rangers were awarded a corner kick but Davis’ delivery into the box was an unimpressive one as he failed to clear the Malmo defence who cleared the ball away with relative ease and kept the score line at nil all.
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