Here’s Nick Ames’s match report.
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Rangers’ Scott Arfield speaks to BT Sport.
A bit different, at times it was like a basketball game, two teams trying to win it. We take it back to Ibrox and we feel we can win this game, every time you come against this calibre. they are going to be good. They made it difficult, they created overloads. I feel like we can win this tie. The fans travelled in numbers, we will have 45,000 behind us. It was always going to be difficult, it’s only half-time. Morelos is a big player, there’s no doubt. Everyone needs to adapt, he’s a big miss. It’s all about us playing to each other’s strengths, Alfredo can’t play until end of the season. He can’t help us. There’s no doom and gloom, we’ve set it up for next week.
Full-time: Braga 1-0 Rangers
Back to Ibrox it goes, and with such a slim advantage for Braga then Rangers must fancy they can find a way back. For much of the second half they were the better team and will have their home crowd behind them. 1-0, under the new rules, with no away goals, is a decent result. The semis are not out of reach.
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90+3 min: One last push from Rangers, getting it launched down the Braga end before the full-time whistle goes.
90+2 min: Rangers the better team for the last 20 minutes or so, with Braga’s youngsters tiring. They have missed Morelos’s finishing and devilment in attack, though.
90 min: Three minutes added on as Rangers force a corner, one that almost lands at the feet of Goldson who shapes to shoot before a pile of Braga bodies get in the way.
89 min: Goldson’s cute header at the back post sets up a set of shots at the Braga defence, the ball pinging around before the keeper claims with some relief.
88 min: Kamara and Aribo try to link in midfield, but the ball goes back to Bassey before Roofe is fouled, right on the edge of the box, Carmo made the foul, having already been booked. He escapes a second yellow.
86 min: Lundstram surges on for Rangers but his pass to Arfield is poor, just like so much of Rangers’ passing game this weekend.
84 min: Still no Ramsey. His stay at Ibrox is reaching the level of oddity.
81 min: A break in play as there’s some cramp in the Braga ranks. A long break, too, before Andre Horta comes off. Mineiro on, as Al Musrati comes off and Castro comes on.
79 min: Braga happy to settle for 1-0? Carlos Carvahal always struck as a coach who liked to attack, so perhaps not.
77 min: Horta and Horta, the Braga brothers, link up, and Rangers have to get bodies in the way to block them off, eventually Andre Horta shoots and Allan McGregor knocks the ball behind to take the safety option.
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75 min: Braga change: off go Medeiros and Ruiz, Miguel Fale and Vitor Oliveira on, Vitinha for short.
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73 min: Braga no longer quite so fluid as before, and Arfield gets to the byline, and Roofe steps out and decides to take it first time, only to smash the ball into the direction of that great bit sea cliff. He might have taken a touch there, anything but that. He was attempting a volley Marco van Basten would have baulked at attempting.
71 min: Close for Rangers! Bassey makes Beckenbauer-esque surge from defence that sets up a Rangers attack, and Arfield forces a corner, and Tavernier will take it. It swings across goal, and Goldson is there to head it. And he misses the target! Had to do better.
69 min: Roofe complains that he is manhandled as he chases down the channel. It’s been been lone furrows for the Rangers forwards for much of the game.
67 min: A glimmer for Braga, Gomes cuts in from the left and wings in a shot that lands in Allan McGregor’s midriff.
66 min: Lundstram’s long ball is aimed for Aribo is cleared away. But it’s been a better half so far from Rangers, even if they are lacking the quality to make much of an impact on Braga.
64 min: Early involvement for Roofe, but he slips on to Aribo’s pass and handles it as he falls in the box. There’s a very weak attempt to claim a penalty.
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62 min: And here they come, how might they affect the play now that Rangers have come back into the game? On come Barisic, Roofe and Aribo, off come Balogun, Sakala and Jack. A reshuffle is in place and each of those players have not had the easiest nights.
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60 min: Rangers changes imminent is the word...
59 min: Braga try to re-establish dominance but Rangers have regained their shape, and kept it tight. Braga are reduced to passing the ball around in non-dangerous areas.
57 min: Arfield tries to charge down Matheus but ends up being tricked by the goalie, not that it won’t have sent shivers down the spine of Braga’s fans. It was risky. Fabiano also fouls Kamara, and that results in a free kick that comes to Arfield to swing at. The ball is cleared away. Rangers with momentum? Possibly.
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55 min: From nowhere, Rangers get a corner, and Tavernier must do better with this one. Abel Ruiz climbs highest to head clear for Braga.
54 min: Couto continues to cause havoc, and Rangers continue to struggle get the ball clear and up. They are defending well at the moment but need to maintain their concentration.
52 min: Kamara is trying his best to get on the ball but Rangers are struggling to make the ball stick at the moment; nobody is holding it for long. That sets up myriad Braga attacks, and allows them to control possession.
50 min: Lundstram forces the ball down the field, with Braga pushing hard on to Rangers players. It feels like there are more Braga players on the field at the moment.
48 min: Medeiros, Couto and Orta carve some pretty patterns with their passing; Braga are a quality outfit. Couto, who is giving the Rangers left flank a terrible chasing, wins a corner, though one cleared easily.
46 min: Back away we go, no Rangers changes, no Aaron Ramsey. You remember him, Aaron Ramsey, good for Wales.
Half-time: Braga 1-0 Rangers
After starting so well, Rangers began to cough up chances and having escaped a VAR-assisted goal, Abel Ruiz struck. In the dressing room, Gio has work to do to work out how to prevent those pacy counters. There is potential gold amid Braga’s shaky defence if Rangers can step forward a bit more.
45+3 min: Gomes, clearly feeling better, speeds past Tavernier then Kamara, showing off what is a clear talent.
45+2 min: Arfield, Jack and Lundstram are chased down in the corner. Braga’s energy is winning out here.
45 min: Rangers build up an attack then ends with a John Lundstram shot, only for an offside flag to be waved. Four minutes added on to this half.
44 min: Braga are a man down as Gomes has taken a knock jumping up for the ball on the touchline. He’ll be OK to continue but takes his time.
42 min: Braga had come more and more into it, finding space down the wing, with Couto against Kent something of a mismatch for Kent’s defensive capabilities.
Goal! Braga 1-0 Rangers (Abel Ruiz, 40)
Poor defending from Balogun, who sticks out a leg as a pass from the excellent Couto finds the striker who smashes it beyond Allan McGregor and in. No VAR this time, a fine goal but one that could have been far better defended.
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39 min: Rangers sitting back a little bit more, and having to be wary of the excellent Couto.
37 min: A break in play as Ryan Jack takes a knock. He looks a tad roughed up.
36 min: Matt Burtz is in: “I’m aware that Max Rushden describes you as music hipster, but what’s wrong with Def Leppard? Personally, I could usually use more Def Leppard in my life.”
Nothing, I had Pyromania on just this morning. Great band, nice blokes, proper Sheffield. I saw them promote When Love And Hate Collide at Bramall Lane in 1995, hence the reference.
34 min: Zakala turns Tormena and has time and space to shoot. He wastes what is his best chance so far. The Braga defenders are not the quickest.
32 min: Ryan Kent scampers away, and looks to have found his way through, only for Couto to quell the danger. Yan Couto, by the way, is on loan from Manchester City, having already played for sister club Girona.
31 min: Braga force a corner from one of those wildcat attacks but Rangers scramble it clear, looking far less sure of themselves as they did 15 minutes ago or so. Ricardo Orta is a growing force in this game, as are Medeiros and Couto.
28 min: A let-off for Rangers, they had let their guard down, and allowed Braga space and time in their box.
No goal! Still 0-0 after VAR!
Ryan Jack was taken out in the melee from which Orta scored, and went down. The ref ran off to the TV screen to check and we all know what that means. Back to parity.
Goal! Braga 1-0 Rangers (Horta, 26)
The goal came from a similar position as the previous chance, Couto down the wing, a couple of chances to clear the ball go begging, and off Tavernier, the Braga skipper buries it...
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24 min: Braga smash the post! A speedy break. Ricardo Horta smashes the ball after a Couto cross from the flank causes chaos. It comes off the post and back out when he might have done better with his finish.
22 min: Braga’s Carmo is booked for clattering Kamara, whose speed from deep is causing problems. Tavernier takes the set piece and makes a mess of it again. He needs to do better, the skipper, on those dead balls.
21 min: Braga, having to take a breather after being given something of a buffeting by Rangers, choose to rest on the ball with some gentle passing.
19 min: Rangers free-kick from the left after Kamara is bundled over, Tavernier’s kick smashes off the face of someone in the wall. Rangers keep up the pressure.
18 min: Rangers have most of the ball but need be wary of opponents whose young, zesty legs make them ideal for the speeding counter.
16 min: Sakala climbs but Carmo, Braga’s hulking defender, climbs higher and stronger.
15 min: Desperate defending from Braga’s Al Musrati as Sakala is played the ball in a dangerous position in the six-yard box. Rangers stepping this up, looking to have far more threat.
13 min: Sakala is sent down the right, and he looks to have the beating of his opposing full-back for pace, though this time hits the first defender. More glimmers of hope for Rangers.
12 min: Braga need to gain back control here, Rangers keep winning back possession, though they too have been a little wasteful. This game continues to be wide open.
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10 min: A jink from Kent and a pass out wide Arfield opens up space. Rangers have a route through the Braga defence, it seems. Time to exploit that.
9 min: It looks like Matheus, the Braga goalie, may no longer be able to carry on, having hurt himself in that Kent half-chance. Looks like a muscle problem. He says he is OK to carry on, but is limping. The advice to Rangers plays now is to shoot on sight.
7 min: This is an open game. Both of them pressing hard, going at each other.
Peter Oh joins us: “Re: the rock face on one end of the Braga ground. I would love to see Granit Xhaka play on this pitch, blooter a crushing shot well over the crossbar, with the ball bursting from the impact with the sheer cliff.”
5 min: Chaos in the Braga box. Arfield takes the ball from Goldson and the ball is good, then Kent storms in but his first touch is a little too high. He might have done better there and Matheus in the Braga goal came out to smother the ball and didn’t exactly look the bravest.
4 min: Braga pushing on. Medeiros, for whom nothing’s gonna change my love, gets down the right side, cuts in and is blocked off. Already, they look a decent quality opponent for Rangers.
2 min: A speeding Ryan Kent almost gets down the right, but Braga clear and attack with speed of their own. Goldson has to step out to clear the danger. Both teams favour speedy attacks, we can safely say.
1 min: And away we go in Portugal, where the atmosphere is bouncing, the home fans really turning it on. The three-sided ground reminds of the Bramall Lane of the 1990s, but with a bit more atmosphere, nicer weather and a bit less Def Leppard and Dave Bassett. Allan McGregor is making a century of European appearance tonight, the 40-year-old veteran who didn’t have the best Old Firm match at the weekend.
Ok, here we go in the quarter-final, with Rangers having travelled further in the competition than any other Scottish club; they reached the final of the old Uefa Cup in 2008 under the late, great Walter Smith.
These two met in this competition two years ago, back in the days of Stevie G.
Rangers should have extended the 3-2 lead with which they travelled to Portugal during the first half but wasted three chances – with Ianis Hagi becoming their fourth player this season to miss a penalty.
But Kent sealed Rangers’ place in the draw on Friday 16 minutes after the break to send the 5,000 fans who had journeyed from Scotland wild and now Gerrard hopes it will help the Englishman return to his best.
Gio van Bronckhorst speaks to BT in Braga.
Big opportunity, great to be involved in Europe still. We have one goal to go to the semis. Disappointment’s a big part of footbal;, especially when you lose to Celtic. The focus was switched to today. You want to see a reaction, a desire, we have a big squad, and it’s a tie over two games. [Braga]’s a good team, you don’t beat Sheriff and Monaco if you are not a good team. We have to be ready.
Nice view of an amazing stadium.
Definitely a unique stadium pic.twitter.com/v22xoCAHIu
— Vinny O'Connor (@VinnOConnor) April 7, 2022
More from Carlos Carvahal, speaking to BT about those youngsters. He loves to talk.
They are not afraid of anything, they want to fight. So far the team is growing since the start of the season. I am very happy with team. The Scottish fans starts the party already, the Braga fans will come a bit later. I think it will be a fantastic game. All the teams in he world have weak points and we will try to exploit the weak points of Glasgow Rangers.
Some quotes from the Braga manager, Carlos Carvahal, via the BBC.
We’ve got the youngest team left in the Europa League. We have a lot of boys with very good quality. David Carmo was linked last year with Liverpool. We have a lot of talented players aged 17, 18, 19 who want to play in England. They now have a good opportunity to show their abilities to the clubs across the world.
Braga is the stadium where one side of the pitch faces a cliff wall, it’s one of the most picturesque places to visit in Europe. But what other cultural delights might the Rangers faithful have found?
There’s contemporary photography in the Museu da Imagem, which spans two historic buildings: one from the 19th century and a tower from the 14th that was part of the original city wall, and innovative design at the Chapel Tree of Life (open to the public Fridays at 5pm) within the centuries-old seminary of São Pedro and São Paulo. This slatted structure, constructed solely of wood (with no nails or hinges), is suffused with light and evokes the serenity of the nearby forests while providing a singular example of the power of modern architecture.
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Braga’s social media team have chosen a rather Tolkienesque font.
📋 | 11 INICIAL - LINE UP
— SC Braga (@SCBragaOficial) April 7, 2022
É com estes que vamos lutar #AtéAoFim ⚔#UEL | #SCBRFC pic.twitter.com/hIHlLS1Jf9
What does that mean? Aaron Ramsey was supposed to start but doesn’t, and drops to the bench alongside Joe Aribo and Kemar Roofe, while Glen Kamara, Scott Arfield and Fashion Sakala come in. There’s talk that Gio Van Bronckhorst has opted for a back three, and it does look like a hard-working, more defensively minded team.
To quote Rangers’ website:
That means it’s a back five of Allan McGregor in goal with James Tavernier, Connor Goldson, Leon Balogun and Calvin Bassey in front of him.
Kamara joins John Lundstram and Ryan Jack in the middle of the park, while up front, Arfield and Ryan Kent will play in support of Fashion Jr.
🆕 Tonight's #RangersFC team to face @SCBragaOficial in the @EuropaLeague.
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) April 7, 2022
Full Team News: https://t.co/OVISluucxJ#UEL pic.twitter.com/mTvxWczvwG
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The teams
Braga: Matheus, Y. Couto, Fabiano, Tormena, Carmo, Al Musrati, Medeiros, A. Horta, R. Horta, Ruiz, Gomes Subs: Hornicek, Sa, Buta, Leite, P. Oliveira, Rodrigues, Castro, B. Cuoto, Mineiro, Moura, Fale, V. Oliveira
Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun, Bassey, Jack, Lundstram, Kamara, Arfield, Sakala, Kent. Subs: McCrorie, McLaughlin, Wright, Barisic, Davis, Aribo, Sands, Ramsey, Diallo, Roofe.
Preamble
Last Sunday hurt for Rangers. When Aaron Ramsey scored that early goal against Celtic, all seemed to be going to plan only for things to fall apart and the title race may be all but lost. And then there was that unpleasantness with bottles being thrown. Still, Europe has been a sanctuary for Rangers this season, away from the pain of losing Steven Gerrard and a distraction from domestic matters. Braga, who reached the final of this competition back in 2011, are coming off a 3-2 win over Benfica at the weekend, and sit fourth in the Portuguese Liga table behind the three traditional powers. Of course, Rangers will have to do this without Alfredo Morelos, ruled out for the season, and come up against a familiar face in Carlos Carvahal, once of Swansea and Sheffield Wednesday, who is in charge of the youngest team in the competition. Portugal is always a crucible of talent, so could be some stars of the future on show. Not that Rangers will be admiring the talent, going as far in the competition as possible is the aim.
Kick-off is at 8pm UK time. Join me.
