Gers lose again as Sevilla march on

09 December 2009 21:52
The Ibrox side had hoped to claim at least one victory in the tournament this season but a Frederic Kanoute penalty early on proved to be the difference between the two teams.[LNB]In fact, Rangers would have felt fortunate to leave Spain with such a narrow defeat on a night when the hosts dominated and they failed to trouble Andres Palop in the Sevilla goal.[LNB]There was a touch of glamour surrounding the game with Tom Cruise and his wife Katie Holmes watching the action at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium after the Hollywood actor took a break from filming his new movie Knight and Day in the Spanish city.[LNB]But it was the 2500 travelling fans Rangers were more interested in impressing as they attempted to make amends for a European campaign which had consigned them to the bottom of the group and without hope even of parachuting into the Europa League before a ball had even been kicked tonight.[LNB]The last meeting between the two clubs at Ibrox had ended in a demoralising 4-1 defeat for Walter Smith's men and the opening stages of this game suggested it could be another difficult evening for the Scottish champions.[LNB]Smith sprung a couple of surprises, with DaMarcus Beasley and Steven Smith both drafted into the starting line-up, while Kris Boyd failed to make the squad after suffering a thigh strain against Falkirk at the weekend after scoring two goals to help earn a 3-1 win.[LNB]Mercifully for Rangers, Sevilla were without star man Luis Fabiano who has been ruled out for the remainder of 2009 with a foot injury but Kanoute was able to start after recovering from an elbow problem and he caused problems early on.[LNB]Rangers could have found themselves trailing after a few minutes when Kanoute burst through on goal and his angled drive from close range looked set to find the back of the net before Sasa Papac hooked off the line.[LNB]But the Glasgow giants were behind with just eight minutes gone when referee Bertrand Layec ruled that Steven Whittaker had tripped Fernando Navarro in the box. Kanoute stepped up for the spot-kick and sent goalkeeper Allan McGregor the wrong way to convert with ease.[LNB]There was another close call for Rangers when McGregor raced off his line to beat Kanoute to the ball, which broke for Jesus Navas but his chipped effort was cleared off the line by Madjid Bougherra.[LNB]Kanoute then went to ground in the box under pressure from Bougherra but there was no penalty award from the French match official on this occasion.[LNB]Rangers made a double switch at half-time, with Kenny Miller and Beasley withdrawn for the introduction of Nacho Novo and Kyle Lafferty.[LNB]But they still failed to cause many problems for the Sevilla defence and it was the home side who were threatening again when a cut-back from Navas was smothered by McGregor, with Kanoute and Renato loitering with intent in front of goal.[LNB]Rangers probably breathed a sigh of relief when Kanoute was withdrawn after an hour for Alvaro Negredo, with the Spaniards having had 15 shots at goal by that stage compared to none from the Scots.[LNB]Sevilla threw Aldo Duscher into the action for the final 15 minutes and he almost had an immediate impact with a blistering shot from the edge of the box that a full stretch McGregor just managed to tip over the crossbar.[LNB]Didier Zokora was then denied by the woodwork when his shot smacked off the inside of the post before Navas fired over from the rebound.[LNB]Rangers finally created a chance when Novo rifled just past the upright but the assistant referee's flag was already raised for offside, before Lee McCulloch drew a decent save from the goalkeeper.[LNB][LNB]

Source: Team_Talk