UEFA Champions League qualification – Rangers versus Malmo: First half review
Rangers took on Malmo at their home stadium i.e. the Ibrox Stadium as a part of their qualification process for the UEFA Champions League. Both the clubs entered the match in a fine run of form and with the first leg of the third
round of the qualification play-off between both the teams being held in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Edu-c12016 in the midfield region whilst Naismith and Jelavic
also started for the Scottish giants.
Malmo were the underdogs as the match kicked off in Glasgow but it was soon evident that the Swedish underdogs were more than capable of surprising the Rangers’ defence. In the 2nd minute of the match, Malmo knitted
together their first attack of the match as Larsson found himself in behind the Rangers back line. However the Swedish striker failed to put the ball into the back of the net despite being in a one on one situation with the goalkeeper.
In the 3rd minute action shifted to the other end when Rangers were denied a clear cut goal scoring opportunity by Malmo. The Ibrox stadium erupted in boos for the referee’s decision as the Spanish official failed to
spot the incident where Jelavic was brought down to the ground by a group by Malmo players. It was a tough moment for the referee who decided that Jelavic wasn’t fouled and thus he ushered the play onwards.
In the 9th minute of the match, Malmo had another brilliant chance to open the scoring at Ibrox stadium against the home team. Hamad unleashed a brilliant shot from outside the Rangers penalty area but McGregor tipped
the ball away. Unfortunately for the home team, the ball fell straight to Durmaz whose first time volley just missed the Rangers’ goal by a few inches as the score line remained at nil all.
In the 18th minute, Malmo made Rangers pay for their slack defending at the back as Durmaz stole the ball off Whittaker and then squared it to Figueiredo. The Malmo midfielder found Larsson at the edge of the penalty
area with a superb through ball and this time Larsson made no mistake with his final finish as he gave Malmo a one goal advantage over Rangers at the Ibrox stadium.
With the score line at one nil in favour of the away side, Rangers stepped up their game but they failed to score an equalizer before the half time whistle. Eventually the first half came to an end with the score line at one nil
as Larsson’s goal separated the two sides at the half time break.
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