Benfica boss Jorge Jesus was thrilled to snatch a point off an ‘excellent’ Rangers side during their 2-2 Europa League draw at Ibrox on Thursday night, as he told Record.
Talk about déjà vu.
Three weeks after Rangers threw away a two-goal lead away in the Estadio da Luz, history repeated itself in Glasgow as a James Tavernier own goal and a fine Pizzi effort prevented Steven Gerrard’s side from qualifying for the knockout stages with two games remaining.
Rangers were exceptional for long spells in Lisbon, leaving a ten-man Benfica team chasing shadows with their impressive interplay and movement in the final third.
While the Scottish Premiership leaders found possession harder to come by on Thursday, they still posed a major threat in the final third, with Scott Arfield’s opener and Kemar Roofe’s latest Europa League wonder-goal giving the Gers a comfortable lead before Benfica’s late fightback.
“We are not playing against any team. They are an excellent team, who won against two teams in our league (Porto and Braga, last season). We knew it would be a difficult game,” Jesus said after a result that leaves Benfica and Rangers joint top of the group with eight points apiece.
“But my team returned to having the most important thing: a champion culture – belief, with soul and heart. That’s what we had. We changed the result.
“The players are to be congratulated for the way they managed to change a result, against a team that had a gameplan that revolved around reacting to our loss of possession, playing a lot on the counter-attack.”
While Celtic’s Europa League campaign came to a brutal end with another 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Sparta Prague, Rangers will be playing continental football in 2021 if they defeat Standard Liege at home next Thursday.
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