Rangers Slog to 0-0 Tie But Advance Past Progres

It was both ugly and boring but Rangers 0-0 draw with Progres in Luxembourg is good enough to comfortably put them through to the next round.

Rangers went into the second leg of their Europa League qualifying tie with Progres to the same stadium in Luxembourg where the club had one of their great disappointments. This time it was different though, Rangers are a different team and they had a comfortable 2-0 lead that really should’ve been larger after totally dominating the opening leg at Ibrox.

Even a single goal from Rangers would’ve effectively ended the tie as it would’ve given them the away goal advantage, meaning Progres would’ve required a whopping four goals to find victory.

But the goal would never come. Progres parked the bus again, showing little interest in actually attacking to try and get the two goals they needed, and Rangers struggled to break it while also certainly being fully aware that they could play it carefully and cruise to a victory in the tie.

On top of that, it was allegedly poor conditions on the pitch and manager Steven Gerrard even suggested that the game-ball was particularly sticky and of low quality.

This all combined for one of the most wickedly boring games you will see.

There was little creativity until the last 20 or so minutes of the match when Alfredo Morelos was inserted for Jermaine Defoe and the Progres defenders started to show signs of fatigue. Both of Rangers wing-backs struggled to do anything up the field and Borna Barasic was pulled for Andy Halliday at half-time.

Despite the anemic offensive showing. Other than a couple of brief moments, one of them an impressive long-distance shot, Progres never threatened Rangers goal and Allan McGregor was largely a spectator for the duration of the match.

Given that, despite it being disappointing to have not even gotten a single goal on the board, especially since it lowers the boost to the coefficient, it is hard to be too disappointed with the result. Progres had no interest in trying to actually win the tie and instead decided to try and keep it respectable and that’s what they got. Rangers were unimpressive but they advance.

Following this game, Rangers will start their real tests with the Scottish Premiership starting on Sunday at Kilmarnock and a much more difficult opponent in Europa League.