Rangers out of Europe after defeat by Benfica
Rangers' Europa League campaign crashed to an end as Rafa Silva's breakaway goal sent Benfica into the quarter-finals after another thrilling encounter at Ibrox.
Silva raced on to Angel di Maria's second-half knockdown to cut across Mohamed Diomande and fire past Jack Butland, with Rangers badly exposed from their own corner.
The strike was initially ruled offside before a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review determined the Portuguese had just stayed inside his own half before showing exquisite execution to silence a raucous stadium.
Rangers failed to muster a real fightback as Roger Schmidt's side managed the game well to secure progression.
Reaction & as it happenedEverything you need to know about RangersIbrox was an absolute wall of noise before kick-off. The anticipation of the potential of another Europa League quarter-final, what would have been their second in three seasons, had whipped up Rangers fans.
A captivating spectacle ensued between two sides who seemed evenly matched for the most part, certainly until the 66th-minute goal.
Benfica were first to show their teeth in terms of opportunities. Rafa Silva broke from a Rangers corner that left them exposed. That would become a theme, an ultimately decisive one. His whipped low cross was begging to be buried but evaded the incoming Marcos Leonardo.
Rangers began to utilise their home advantage, controlling the ball well, but were nearly caught again when David Neres cut back, Di Maria swiped and Leonardo could not direct his header on goal.
Di Maria then had all the space in the world, again from a Rangers corner, down the right and tried to bend the ball into Leonardo but was just off with his accuracy. Would Rangers learn? No.
John Lundstram, so influential of late, gifted the chance of the half when he appeared to change his mind at the vital moment. Di Maria gathered and squared the ball across goal but somehow it trundled behind to the relief of the home support.
Rangers struggled to create clear-cut chances. Cyriel Dessers was on the end of one early in the second half but seemed to hesitate slightly and a wonderful opportunity deflected wide.
A similar result followed when James Tavernier crossed towards Dessers but the defender beat him - and nearly his own goalkeeper - as the ball rolled agonisingly wide.
Another Rangers corner left them undone on the counter again. Rafa Silva fed Fredrik Aursnes, who played it to substitute Casper Tengstedt. The striker had to score, but shot straight at Butland.
However, Benfica were not to be denied. Silva capitalised, by the narrowest of offside margins, to decide the tie.
From then on, they limited Rangers, while coming close to adding to their lead at the other end.
Player of the match - Rafa Silva (Benfica)Rafa Silva for his brilliant and decisive execution for the goal gets the nod. Special mention, though, to Rangers defender John Souttar, who is doing his Scotland credentials no harm before Euro 2024. He was solid, read the game superbly and sparked the odd counter with incisive passingBenfica quality counts as Rangers fail to reach their best - analysisRangers matched Benfica in Lisbon and did so again in front of a raucous home crowd until conceding the decider.
From there, they just could not find a response. Substitutes were unable to make an impact. Perhaps Philippe Clement's side ran out of steam given the demands of their schedule and injuries they have endured.
In Benfica, they met a side who have real quality. That, eventually, showed and decided who would progress.
The one question mark centres on why Rangers persisted in leaving themselves so exposed when they had a corner kick. Time and again they were almost caught and then eventually they were.
That aside, it has been another impressive Europa League campaign in which they have shown real quality against some top sides. That they were roundly applauded at the end speaks to that. Tonight, they didn't quite reach those levels and paid for it.
Their focus is back on domestic silverware and they remain in a strong position to add to their League Cup success.
What they saidRangers manager Philippe Clement: "I think it was a close tie but I am proud of what my players showed. We played a better game on the ball than what we showed in Lisbon.
"You need to be on your toes to compete with these teams that have a much bigger budget. Everybody did that, everybody raised their level. You need to take the moments and we didn't take ours enough."
Match statsAll of Benfica's last four goals in the Europa League have either been scored (3) or assisted (1) by Ángel di Maria. His assist tonight for Rafa Silva's goal was his 13th goal involvement in the competition for Benfica, with only Oscar Cardozo providing more goal contributions than him for the club (21) since the Europa League's rebranding in 2009-10.Benfica are the first Portuguese team to beat Rangers at Ibrox in European competition. The Glasgow outfit had previously gone 11 unbeaten at home against Portuguese opposition, winning eight and drawing three.Rangers have now lost back-to-back matches at Ibrox across all competitions for the first time since March 2020 under Steven Gerrard. Since then, they had played 110 games without suffering consecutive home defeats.Tonight's victory was Benfica's first on the road in the Europa League since October 2020, after failing to win any of their previous four (D3 L1). It was also their first away win in the knockout stages of the competition since February 2019, having lost four of their last five before tonight (D1).Rafa Silva has now scored three away goals in his last four European away matches, as many goals as he managed in his previous 27 away games in Europe across spells with Braga and Benfica.Rangers failed to score in a home game across all competitions for only the second time in their last 46 matches (also v Celtic in September 2023). They had scored in each of their last 19 matches at Ibrox before tonight.What's next?Rangers head to Dens Park to face Dundee (12:00 GMT) on Sunday in their final Scottish Premiership fixture before the international break.
Formation 4-2-3-1
1Butland2Tavernier6GoldsonBooked at 55mins5Souttar3Yilmaz42DiomandeSubstituted forRaskinat 85'minutes4Lundstram23WrightSubstituted forMatondoat 73'minutes11LawrenceSubstituted forCantwellat 73'minutes7Fábio Silva9DessersSubstituted forRoofeat 77'minutesSubstitutes13Cantwell17Matondo25Roofe26Davies28McCrorie31Barisic38King43Raskin45McCausland46Yfeko47Fraser93McKinnonFormation 4-2-3-1
1Trubin6Bah4António Silva30Otamendi8Aursnes87Gonçalves Neves61Morris Luís11Di MaríaSubstituted forJoão Márioat 90'minutes27Fernandes Ferreira da SilvaSubstituted forAntunes Gouveiaat 90+2'minutes7Neres CamposSubstituted forKökçüat 64'minutes36Santos AlmeidaSubstituted forTengstedtat 45'minutesBooked at 90minsSubstitutes3Fernández5Rodrigues da Silva9Mendonça Cabral10Kökçü19Tengstedt20João Mário24Jumpe Soares32Rollheiser44Lemos Araújo45Kokubo47Antunes GouveiaMatch ends, Rangers 0, Benfica 1.
Second Half ends, Rangers 0, Benfica 1.
Casper Tengstedt (Benfica) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Fábio Silva (Rangers) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Casper Tengstedt (Benfica).
Attempt blocked. Todd Cantwell (Rangers) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Substitution, Benfica. Tiago Gouveia replaces Rafa.
Foul by Kemar Roofe (Rangers).
António Silva (Benfica) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Benfica. João Mário replaces Ángel Di María.
Foul by Kemar Roofe (Rangers).
João Neves (Benfica) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. John Lundstram (Rangers) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by James Tavernier.
Offside, Benfica. Ángel Di María is caught offside.
Substitution, Rangers. Nicolas Raskin replaces Mohamed Diomande.
Corner, Rangers. Conceded by Alexander Bah.
Attempt missed. João Neves (Benfica) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Orkun Kökçü with a cross following a corner.
Corner, Benfica. Conceded by Jack Butland.
Attempt saved. Alexander Bah (Benfica) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Ángel Di María.
Offside, Benfica. Fredrik Aursnes is caught offside.
Player of the match
RafaRafa
with an average of 7.88
Squad number1Player nameButland
Squad number5Player nameSouttar
Squad number2Player nameTavernier
Squad number11Player nameLawrence
Squad number4Player nameLundstram
Squad number3Player nameYilmaz
Squad number6Player nameGoldson
Squad number23Player nameWright
Squad number7Player nameFábio Silva
Squad number42Player nameDiomande
Squad number13Player nameCantwell
Squad number9Player nameDessers
Squad number17Player nameMatondo
Squad number43Player nameRaskin
Squad number25Player nameRoofe
Squad number27Player nameRafa
Squad number7Player nameDavid Neres
Squad number20Player nameJoão Mário
Squad number4Player nameAntónio Silva
Squad number10Player nameKökçü
Squad number47Player nameTiago Gouveia
Squad number87Player nameJoão Neves
Squad number30Player nameOtamendi
Squad number19Player nameTengstedt
Squad number11Player nameDi María
Squad number61Player nameFlorentino
Squad number8Player nameAursnes
Squad number6Player nameBah
Squad number1Player nameTrubin
Squad number36Player nameMarcos Leonardo