Rangers were cruelly denied some much needed cash by Turkish minnows Bursaspor last night as the group whipping boys had the audacity to score an equalising goal with just minutes left on the clock.
The cash strapped Ibrox men missed out on a whopping £750,000 bonus which Martin Bain will now try to claim back from the Turkish upstarts as the dust settles on another Champions League master class from Rangers.
Walter Smith waved farewell to a competition which has been so good to him and his players over the years with the Gers boss enjoying SIX glorious wins at Europe’s top table.
And his player looked determined to add to that proud record as they poured forward from kick off as Smith lined up with a 7-3-0 formation designed to stretch Buraspor to the limit.
And with 15 minutes gone it paid off. A sweeping move involving 24 passes was eventually bulleted into the next by Miller and I could have been watching Barcelona, such was the quality of the move.
Naismith almost doubled the lead a few minutes later but was clearly shoved as he stretched to get on the end of a Cole cross which to be honest could have been Ronaldo such was his precision.
The Turkish players trooped off at the break looking a broken bunch as Rangers looked to add to their lead.
And the procession towards the Turskish goal continued in the second half as only some freak defending and blatant fouling stopped Gers adding to their lead.
Then on the hour Smith replaced goal hero Miller with James Beattie and Naismith with Vladimir Weiss who paused to restore the sight of an elderly gentleman before taking his place on the right wing.
The Turks responded to this by showing a complete lack of respect to Smith on his farewell Champions League appearance by attacking McGregor’s goal with the ball passing between them.
And with 12 minutes left they got their undeserved goal as young Cole – and early contender for player of the year – slipped and let a guy called Ozan Ipek through and his speculative and frankly weedy ball cruelly evaded Whittaker.
Even then luck proved to be Turkish as the ball hit Yildirim on the leg and the ball trickled over McGregor’s line as the keeper was being held down by 5 Turkish players and 4 substitutes.
Rangers poured forwards once more but the Turks held out for a point in what was a phenomenal campaign for Walter Smith and his warriors.
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