Samaras v Sion

By FOS Editor
August 18 2011

The Old Firm were left with tricky second leg ties after Rangers lost away to Maribor and Celtic were held at home by Sion.

Rangers were first to kick off against Maribor in Slovenia and took the lead just after 30 minutes. Kirk Broadfoot was the architect when he found space down theMariborleft and, after turning his marker, his low cross was turned into the net by Juan Manuel Ortiz from six yards. This was the Spaniards first goal for the club after a less than auspicious start to his Ibrox career.

The held the lead until early in the second half when the home side equalised, the Rangers defence was caught sleeping at a throw-in and Agin Ibraimi was allowed space to hammer a left-foot shot past Allan McGregor at his near post.

For the remainder of the half Rangers became more and more jittery as the looked to return to Ibrox on level terms and the comfort of their away goal. Sadly they buckled under the pressure and lost a second goal in stoppage time when Etien Velikokja back-heeled the ball into the net.

In the end they leave themselves set up with a decent opportunity for the second leg and have given themselves a half chance of making the group stages.

Celtic were at home to Sion of Switzerland and made heavy weather of the home tie. They struggled in the opening half to make a dent on the Swiss rear guard.

Sadly for Celtic the second half was a repeat performance as they had a real hard shift against the Sion defence, although Scott Brown did have a great chance late on as he sent a shot wide from a Mulgrew cross.

Although many will laugh at the demise of the Old Firm if they go out, then we really do need them to progress if we don’t want to become a bigger European backwater than we are at the moment.