Rangers Glasgow survived Athletic Bilbao’s threat, as they held on to a goalless draw, despite been down to 10 men.
The Scottish side played 0-0 at home against Bilbao in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League quarterfinals.
The hosts were rescued by goalkeeper Liam Kelly, who went on to become a hero by denying Alex Berenguer’s penalty.
In a bizarre turn of events at Ibrox, Berenguer thought he had put Bilbao ahead in the 76th minute when a superb Kelly save dropped kindly for him to lash into an empty net.
But after a few minutes of VAR review, the Video Assistant Referee disallowed the goal for handball against Gorka Guruzeta. A penalty was then awarded to the visitors for a handball by Dujon Sterling just seconds before the Athletic player had handled it.
However, the Scottish side goalkeeper went on to deny Berenguer’s spotkick, with his leg, to rescue Rangers.
The game started badly for the hosts as they lost Robin Propper to a red card in the 13th minute. The midfielder was sent off for a last-ditch lunge on Inaki Williams.
Propper was initially booked for a yellow card, but after a VAR check, it was upgraded to a red card.
The visitors piled on the pressure for the remainder of the game, which included 12 minutes of injury time. However, Barry Ferguson’s side stood tall and wide to keep the tie level, despite also going down to nine men as Sterling was stretched out, with minutes remaining.
Meanwhile, Bilbao could not capitalise on the deficit and also utilise all of their chances, despite registering over 20 shots.
The hosts however failed to register a shot on target, but were rescued by Kelly’s penalty heroics.
The tie will be decided in the return leg next Thursday as Rangers travel to Spain.
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