Europa: Aribo, Bassey Feature, Balogun Benched In Rangers’ Loss At Leipzig In Semi-final First Leg

Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey were involved while Leon Balogun was benched, as Rangers fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat to RB Leipzig at the Red Bull Arena in the first leg of their Europa League semifinal clash, BSNSports.com.ng reports.

With a place in the final of Europe’s second-tier competition at stake, Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst went for caution over beautiful football.

A late Angelino goal sealed the win for the German Bundesliga side which means Rangers must overturn the deficit to qualify for the final.

Leipzig began with the bulk of possession, with no real chances of note until the 17th minute, when a bit of a loose header from Barisic presented the ball to Dani Olmo to cross for Christopher Nkunku in the 18-yard box, but he dallied on the ball and McGregor blocked well.

The remainder of the first half remained cagey, and then into the second half, it was Rangers to threaten first four minutes after the restart.

The Scottish champions worked it well with Aribo getting Kent on the ball out on the left with a fine pass. From there, the winger showed super skill to burrow a path into the area before flashing an effort across the face of goal.

Tavernier then had a volley from inside the area blocked away for a corner, before McGregor was called into action for really the first time in the match to beat away a decent Nkunku effort from just outside the area.

Nkunku then had the big chance of the game on 71 minutes as he burst into the area, danced round McGregor but found his sure route to goal blocked by a superb Barisic block.

Rangers need to win by a two-goal margin when the second leg is played at the Ibrox Stadium next week to make it to the final of the competition.