Rangers have taken a big step towards their first European quarter-final for 14 years. James Tavernier and Alfredo Morelos struck in a hurly-burly first half before Leon Balogun headed into the net at the start of the second to give the Scottish champions a plump cushion to take with them for next week’s second leg in Belgrade.
However the Rangers manager, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, warned that Red Star remain a threat. “We played really well. If you’d seen the game you would think more goals were in it, also for them,” he said. “We go to Belgrade next week, it is going to be hard, maybe harder than today. We have a three goal difference to take with us but this tie isn’t over yet.”
Two weeks after one of the most glorious European results in Rangers’ history, Van Bronckhorst sent out the same XI that finished the victorious tie against Borussia Dortmund but he had them aligned in a different formation, with a back four rather than a 3-5-2. Red Star started brightly but the 50,000 excited souls in Ibrox rejoiced when Rangers’ first proper attack yielded a penalty, Ryan Kent skittering into the box and falling over Slavoljub Srnic’s trailing leg. Tavernier curled an unstoppable spot-kick into the top corner.
Aleksandar Katai thought he had equalised almost immediately but, for the second time in a frenetic start, his effort was ruled out for offside. Red Star barely had a chance to curse their poor timing before Rangers inflicted further pain. Ryan Jack received a short corner at the edge of the box before crossing towards the far post; a defensive header sent it bouncing towards Morelos, who dispatched a sweetly controlled shot into the net from eight yards.
Jack’s fortunes then turned for the worse in a breathless contest, as he was penalised for a foul in his own box. But Katai’s luck did not change: Allan McGregor clawed away his penalty with a brilliant one-handed save. The visitors were slick and muscular but Rangers nearly made it 3-0 before the break, Glen Kamara firing over the bar after superb work by Jack and Calvin Bassey.
Five minutes into the second half, Rangers broke through again. Balogun leapt to head an outswinging corner by Tavernier beyond goalkeeper Milan Borjan from 10 yards. Connor Goldson nearly made it 4-0 from another corner but Aleksandar Dragovic cleared off the line. Red Star remained dangerous. McGregor was finally beaten in the 73rd minute but Guélor Kanga’s ferocious shot from 25 yards clattered the bar.
