Rangers turn on the style in second half to beat Real Betis
Rangers were hoping to build upon their previous unbeaten UEL home form (W5, D1) when they welcomed Los Verdiblancos to Ibrox, but that didn’t equate to much in the early exchanges, as the Spanish side had a large share of the possession and limited how much control the hosts had of the tempo.
Rabbi Matondo nearly caught Betis out after a long through-ball put him one-on-one with Claudio Bravo, but the veteran keeper got down low to stop the winger’s curling effort.
After the early scare, Abde Ezzalzouli nearly made that early control count, as the Moroccan beat the offside trap and against the angle he forced a fine save from Jack Butland.
Having taken a lot of pressure, the hosts started to have a few chances themselves to take the lead as HT neared.
Sima forced a save out of Bravo from the edge of the box before Matondo missed the target with the final chance of the half.
The Gers came flying out in full force in the second-half, with Matondo nearly giving his side the lead again, as he met Sima’s cross from the right-wing, but an extended Héctor Bellerín did enough to put the effort out for a corner.
Tom Lawerence minutes later let rip a rocket from distance only to be denied by the right-hand post.
In a complete reversal of the first-half it was Betis who were on the backfoot and the visitors were thanking the woodwork again, as Borna Barišić rocked the crossbar from a free-kick from the right side of the box.
The all-important goal finally arrived from Sima, as the forward was in the right place to poke the ball into an empty net after a corner had caused a scramble in the six-yard box.
That goal was enough to see Rangers get all three points and get their UEL campaign off on the right note.
For Betis it will be a frustrating result, as their inability to make their first-half dominance count cost them in the end.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Abdallah Sima (Rangers)
