RANGERS face an uphill battle to salvage their Europa League dream after crashing to a 3-1 home defeat against Bayer Leverkusen.
After a famous Ibrox comeback in their last leg, Steven Gerrard’s side had all the makings of another heroic night but just fell short.
Gerrard’s side now have it all to do in the second leg of this last-16 Euro tie against the impressive Germans.
But the same old mistakes of giving their opponents two-goal leads isn’t a habit they should be maintaining.
Ultimately, this time it cost the Ibrox side.
The Bundesliga side were well worthy of their lead after dominating possession for most of the first half.
They showed their quality on the ball as they sprayed it from side to side and made Rangers work to win it back.
Allan McGregor was called into action on a couple of occasions as he kept his ticking over.
However, late into the half, the away side were awarded a penalty.
George Edmundson was penalised for a handball as the ball was crossed into the box.
However, it took the first VAR call at Ibrox to intervene and allow the Germans to take the all-important advantage as they looked in total control.
Into the second half though and Rangers were much improved.
Florian Kamberi was brought on for Joe Aribo, and his impact appeared to lift his team-mates.
Within minutes, Alfredo Morelos had two good opportunities – however, keeper Hradecky produced some fine saves.
Gerrard’s men were plugging away, trying desperately to lift the tempo of the game to clinch an equaliser.
Although, on the 67th minute Charles Aranguiz scored to make Rangers’ task even more difficult at 2-0 down once more at home in Europe.
Firstly, Steven Davis did well to clear an acrobatic effort off the line and clear the ball for a corner.
But from the resultant ball into the box the Gers defence failed to clear their lines and Aranguiz made no mistake with the finish.
Rangers tried to create some goal scoring chances before the end of the game.
George Edmundson gave the home supporters something to cheer with 15 minutes to play as he slammed home a free header inside the six-yard box from a corner to pull one back.
Borna Barisic then agonisingly saw his free kick go a yard past the post as the Gers went in search of another famous European comeback.
In the end though, truth be told, Leverkusen were simply the better team.
Leon Bailey confirmed that summation with a terrific right-footed curler into the top corner to seal the 3-1 win in the dying minutes.
The Germans hold a solid advantage going into the second leg, which is due to be played next Thursday.
