Ibrox has seen some famous European nights down the years, and having returned from Lisbon last week with a respectable 2-2 draw, there was an expectation from the home crowd that another would follow here.
The Ibrox roar was audible when Tom Lawrence crunched into a 50/50 challenge on halfway, and after the ball fortunately ricocheted to a teammate, a swift counter ended with Lawrence’s effort being unconvincingly palmed to safety by Anatoliy Trubin.
Benfica were struggling to cope with the raucous atmosphere, and they were ultimately experiencing much similar issues to those of the first leg – namely getting into nice areas but doing nothing with it.
Nothing highlighted that better than when Ángel Di María was afforded time and space on the edge of the area, only to see his effort fly high over the crossbar.
The Argentine was arguably the biggest culprit for wastefulness too, twice spurning the opportunity to lay the ball on a plate for his teammate when he worked a nice position in the inside right channel. With the tie on a knife edge at HT, the onus was on someone to come out after the break and make themselves a hero.
And Cyriel Dessers may well have taken the initiative within five minutes of the restart, had he been granted a little more luck, as his deflected strike dropped harmlessly wide of the post.
While the hosts were lacking in fortune, Benfica were granted a stroke of luck midway through the second half, when a lightning-quick counter from a Rangers counter ended with Rafa Silva running from halfway to slot past Jack Butland.
And although the goal was initially ruled as offside, VAR confirmed Silva was in his own half when he ran onto Di María’s flick-on. And despite Rangers desperately needing a goal to keep the tie alive, it was Benfica doing the attacking as the latter minutes ticked by.
In turn, Benfica came tantalisingly close to wrapping up the tie, when Alexander Bah’s effort forced Butland into a smart stop.
The hosts were unable to take advantage of that life line though, as they slumped to back-to-back home defeats for the first time since March 2020 on top of their UEL elimination.
The night ultimately belonged to Benfica, who finally broke the Teddy Bears’ resistance after three successive draws in this H2H fixture.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Rafa Silva (Benfica)
