Rangers 1 Malmo 2 : Bonke sees red, Aribo & Balogun go 90 as Scottish giants suffer shock loss

Published: August 10, 2021

Scottish Premiership champions Glasgow Rangers have crashed out of the UEFA Champions League at the third qualifying round stage after a shock 2-1 loss to Swedish club Malmo on Tuesday night.

Manager Steven Gerrard handed starts to two Super Eagles stars in Joe Aribo and Leon Balogun , while defensive midfielder Innocent Bonke was named in Malmo's starting lineup.

The Light Blues got off to a sensational start and were rewarded in the 18th minute when Alfredo Morelos opened the scoring with a deft header.

The goal made a difference in terms of the aggregate score over the two legs as the two teams were tied on the night.

Rangers headed into the break a goal and a man up as Bonke was dismissed for a second bookable offense.

The Malmo number 20 was first shown a yellow card for a clumsy foul on Morelos and got his marching orders four minutes later after a late challenge on Goldson.

Seven minutes into the second half, Antonio-Mirko Colak drilled a shot past the Rangers goalkeeper to make it 1-1 and netted what proved to be the winning goal at minute 54 after poor defending by Balogun.

Balogun and Aribo put in a full ninety-minute shift, and young Rangers left-back Calvin Bassey watched proceedings from the bench for the entirety of the game.

Rangers will now compete in the Europa League playoff following their loss while Malmo are two games away from reaching the Champions League proper.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : rangers.co.uk

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