On a night of heroes and villains at Ibrox, Liam Kelly emerged as the man of the moment for Rangers as Barry Ferguson’s ten-man side kept Athletic Bilbao at bay.
Into the starting line-up after Jack Butland was dropped on the back of another high profile mistake int he weekend defeat to Hibs, Kelly found himself into a spotlight that he duly embraced.
The former Motherwell goalkeeper had done little wrong throughout the game but but the time his foot pushed away Alex Berenguer’s second-half penalty – after the substitute looked as though he had come off the bench to give Bilbao the lead – he was deserving of the bedlam that surrounded him as accolades that rained down on him.
They came from his team-mates, from the stands and from his manager as he took centre stage on a night when Rangers worked their socks off.
The chances of them taking anything positive from this game had looked unlikely as early as 12 minutes in. Robin Propper’s dismissal gave them a numerical disadvantage that for large spells the visitors looked certain to exploit.
The defender caught Inaki Williams just inside the box and while the initial judgement was a yellow, referee Istvan Kovacs went to the monitor before upgrading the caution to a dismissal.
Rangers were irked but the challenge from Propper was rash and clumsy as Williams beat the defender, who was subsequently judged to be last man.
From the resultant free-kick, Nico Williams’ effort was straight into the wall with brother Inaki’s second bite at the cherry over the bar.
Still, despite the numerical adversity, Rangers tried to rally. Cyriel Dessers took aim from the edge of the box but his effort drifted just wide. Still, it galvanised a raucous Ibrox support who roared their approval.
They were irked, though, at the moments of sloppiness that invited pressure from Bilbao. Twice Ridvan Yilmaz was caught out and while the moments came to nothing as Bilbao were unable to exact maximum punishment, it was an indication of just how Bilbao could open Rangers up.
Kelly was called upon to tip away Maroan Sannadi’s shot from inside the box before he then had to rush away Oihan Sancet’s header from the subsequent corner. If that felt like vindication of his selection there was substantially more to come from him.
Sannadi ought to have redeemed himself after the break when he blasted over from inside the six-yard box after another ball in from the left.
Prior to that the striker had gone into the book after he had been judged to have taken a dive in the box. It was harsh on Sannadi with Leon Balogun clearly making some contact with the player.
As Bilbao’s pressure grew, a goal looked inevitable. It came via Berenguer but after another lengthy VAR check, the goal was chopped off and a penalty awarded to the La Liga side.
If Ibrox was bemused, it quickly rallied; the jeers went up around the stadium and as Berenguer aimed his kick straight down the middle, Kelly’s legs kicked out to push the ball away.
The jeers turned the other way as Rangers celebrated the reprieve.
There were further moments of angst with 12 minutes of added time to endure. Rangers were forced to play the game out with nine men after Sterling had to go off injured.
There is hope ahead of next week’s second leg as Rangers dare to keep dreaming.
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