EUROPA LEAGUE: Rangers march on with Tavernier at the double
NYON: Rangers dug deep into their reserves to battle past Borussia Dortmund and into the Europa League last 16 with a dramatic 6-4 aggregate win at Ibrox.
The Scottish champions stunned the Bundesliga outfit with a 4-2 win in the first leg of the knockout round play-off in Germany last week and the return game in Glasgow was equally pulsating.
Gers skipper James Tavernier scored from the spot in the 22nd minute but goals from England international Jude Bellingham on the half-hour mark and striker Donyell Malan had the super-charged Bundesliga visitors ahead at the interval.
Harvey Barnes struck early on before James Maddison added a second-half brace as Leicester eased into the Europa Conference League last 16 with a 7-2 aggregate win over Randers.
Leicester’s 4-1 victory at the King Power Stadium a week ago meant their Danish opponents were second favourites to advance and the Foxes swelled their lead even further within two minutes of the second leg getting under way.
Barnes, one of four changes Brendan Rodgers made following Sunday’s defeat to Wolves, opened the scoring and Maddison twice curled home from outside the box after the interval in his side’s comfortable 3-1 away win.
Randers spurned several chances to make the contest a more even affair – at least on the night – but were gifted a consolation when Stephen Odey capitalised on a rare mistake from Kasper Schmeichel six minutes from time.
Celtic’s Europa Conference League campaign proved brief and painful as they went down to a 2-0 defeat by Bodo/Glimt in the Arctic Circle.
The Norwegian champions rounded off a 5-1 aggregate win to reach the last 16 of the inaugural tournament.
Just like the first leg, Celtic conceded early on and struggled to find an attacking rhythm.
Ola Solbakken netted inside nine minutes as the hosts started brightly and Celtic were outclassed for the majority of the first half.
There was a bit of a reaction from the visitors either side of the break but Hugo Vetlesen killed off any hopes Celtic had of a comeback when he scored in the 69th minute.
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