Ahead of the tie confidence was high of Rangers advancing into the second round of Europa League qualification, in fact Pedro Caixinha said the tie with Progres Niederkorn had to be viewed as if it were a final.
If it were then Rangers wouldn’t be collecting any silverware…
Rangers’ first European tie is six years had seen a 1-0 win at Ibrox in the first leg but Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat in Luxembourg saw the Progres part-timers embarrass the Light Blues.
A first win in European competition for Progress, who had failed in 13 previous games, ranked 440th by Uefa, ended Rangers’ hopes of qualification into the Europa League proper, which would have generated extra finances and aided the bid to close the growing gap between the Gers and Old Firm rivals Celtic.
Caixinha said he took ‘full responsibility’ for this defeat as he apologised to the Rangers fans.
He told the Official Website: ‘We need to apologise to our fans because they gave us support and loyalty, they don’t deserve this. I assume all the responsibility.’
When the scores were level at 0-0 Niko Kranjcar hit the crossbar and after Progres had gone two up – second half goals from Emmanuel Francoise and Sebastian Thill secured the host a famous win – both Josh Windass and Kenny Miller, who scored in the first leg win, hit the bar too.
The boss added: ‘We could not do what we were here to do – win the game. It’s something that happens once in a lifetime – it happens to us today. For the second goal we knew we could not commit unnecessary fouls and we did, but as I said, I assume all the responsibility and the disappointment.’
Arguably the worst result in Rangers’ history was reflected by the greatest win for Progres.
Caixinha, who has made sweeping changes to the Rangers squad this summer, planning further recruits, on this evidence needed, remains confident on what he’s doing at Ibrox and will maintain his positive outlook.
‘I’m always a positive guy, I never give up. It’s a strong moment that we are living and we need to face it, we need all our character, personality and strength. I believe in this process, I believe in the players and the work we are going to do. It’s a strong lesson that we need to learn from now on, and we need to focus on the positives regarding the future. We need to keep working harder and looking forward.’
