Abel Ruiz hands Sporting Braga win over Rangers

It wasn't an ideal start for Rangers in their Europa League quarter-final as they were beaten 1-0 by Braga at the Estadio Municipal. A goal from Abel Ruiz was enough to ruin Allan McGregor's centenary European appearance for the club in the visiting net, and Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side were fortunate to not leave Portugal with a two-goal deficit as Andre Horta saw his deflected effort chalked off for a foul on Ryan Jack by wide centre-back Fabiano.

Ad/> In a game of few chances, the hosts' captain Ricardo Horta crashed a shot against the post two minutes before Ruiz would put Braga ahead, as Carlos Carvalhal enjoyed a winning return against a British team. Europa LeagueTavernier strikes twice as Rangers beat Dortmund to reach last-1624/02/2022 AT 18:59 Fashion Sakala was poor up top for the visitors in the absence of Alfredo Morelos, and the talismanic Colombian was sorely missed as the Zambian forward was erratic in his finishing, slashing a shot well over after he had outpaced and wrongfooted Tormena.

The Gers struggled to get into their attacking rhythm, and one could argue that they were missing the key names of Morelos and Joe Aribo in the final third, with Glen Kamara often outnumbered and outmuscled when attempting to link patterns of play in rare spurts of possession for the Scots. Neither goalkeeper was really called into action as clear-cut chances were in short supply, and the defensive organisation from the home side meant that their Scottish opponents struggled to break them down: instead forced into laborious building from the back and side-to-sides rather than intricate, penetrative passing through the lines.