Rangers have to settle for draw with PSV Eindhoven after Obispo’s late header

Whether Rangers will make a long-awaited return to the Champions League, or drop into the familiar surroundings of the Europa League still hangs in the balance.

Against PSV Eindhoven, they rode their luck, a goalkeeping disaster from Walter Benítez granting them their second goal, though they also showed plenty of the spirit that took them to last season’s Europa League final.

PSV displayed plenty of the same qualities in an even contest throughout which momentum ebbed and flowed. As well as the defensive mistakes, both teams showed off attacking quality, and like this game, next week in Eindhoven is likely to be a severe test of nerve.

Rangers’ absence from the Champions League group stage stretches 12 years, when the club were managed by the late Walter Smith, and Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United were among their opponents. Now Ferguson was sat in the Ibrox stands. Steven Davis, who started in midfield, and Allan McGregor, the veteran goalkeeper on the bench, featured back then. Via sojourns in English football as the club reformed and came back up the divisions, the pair were symbols of Rangers’ attempt to return to the promised land.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s great friend and former Dutch international colleague, Ruud van Nistelrooy, stood in the way. The former striker supreme was in his sixth match as a senior coach, undefeated so far, and returning to the ground where he slotted PSV’s consolation penalty in a famous 4-1 Rangers win in this competition in 1999.

Van Bronckhorst’s reluctance to pair new signing Antonio Colak with Alfredo Morelos continued, the Croatia international preferred to the Colombia forward on fitness grounds. It was Luuk de Jong, PSV’s veteran striker, who had the first chance, making