match thread (image) [FT] Benfica 3 - 3 Rangers (Goncalves 24og; Kamara 25; Morelos 51)

[BlackSocksRedTops 3,755]

3 hours ago, compo said:

Blips can be costly 

So can getting gubbed by some

tin pot team from Luxemberg

[Fat Eck 103]

These things always break down into "That was criminal! Heads must roll!" versus "Whit ye greetin aboot! Get some perspective!". Understandable - everyone's upset, or terrified that "everyone's upset" will become the narrative among the support as a whole. 

It won't. The Sparta Prague result ensured the momentum is still all ours in every respect.

I said before the game this was a free hit. A lot of us did. The team have absolutely earned such a big, glamour night with no worries or pressure from us. They deserved this fixture, on the ground where the last Champions League final was played, against only the second club to ever be champions of Europe. And after the way our team has performed this season - they way they have performed for the last three seasons in Europe - absolutely no-one is getting condemned or hunted by me. Free passes all round. 

But ye surely have to allow a few days to feel absolutely gutted by the fact we were 3-1 up against Benfica at the Stadium of Light, against ten men, and didn't see it out. There's no crime in feeling like that and, to be honest, I think it's probably emotionally necessary. Processing what we went through last night will let me fully enjoy the next big victory.

Had we fought back from 3-1 down to 3-3, or had the game ended 0-0 with neither side creating much - had we even drawn 3-3 against eleven men - I'd be a lot quicker to concentrate on the fact we've emerged from our two hardest away games of the season with four points. 

It is a compliment to Steven Gerrard's sheer bloody magnificence that we're even playing a  fixture like last night's, let alone doing so with nothing to lose, a mere seven years after we were unable to beat Stirling Albion in three out of four league fixtures.

But it's because we went through all we went through post-2012 that the fans too deserve a one-off moment of unadulterated, glamorous glory.  Had we finished with a victory last night you wouldn't have been out of your chair shouting "we have maximum points from our first three fixtures in this season's Europa League Group Stages!". No, you'd have been out of your chair shouting "We've just beat Benfica at Estadio da  fucking Luz!".

For once in these days of "the long road back", it wasn't about the process or the long-term - it was about a big game at a big stadium against an epic opponent. We could just be caught up in the moment again. It was Rangers back on a stage that suits us, playing the kinda game Rangers should be playing every season.

Porto have a better record in Europe now than Benfica. We were going toe-to-toe with them and another past European champion in Feyenoord last season. But Benfica are different gravy. Benfica, alongside Real Madrid, are the European Cup.

This wasn't just about Steven Gerrard's progress, or about Rangers post-2102 - this was one for that Ibrox European history stretching back to 1956. Steaua Bucharest and PSV Eindhoven are the only European champion clubs we've beaten on their own patch in European competition. What a chance.

We've not yet had that League Cup final victory, or seen us lift that Scottish Cup, since 2012 - we've not had the wee sustaining moments of one-off concrete, undeniable victory we all thought would keep us going until 55 eventually arrived.

Yes, we've skelped Celtic home and away in the league under Gerrard, and we did them in that 2016 Scottish Cup semi, and yes some of those wins had me in tears of relief.  But in each case, other than our latest win at Parkhead, stuff's come along afterwards to camouflage those wins in longer-term disappointment.

Last night was the reverse. It was a short term boot to the baws which can't hide the long-term magnificence of what Gerrard's generally achieving and how focused, hungry and relentless we look this season.

But, until we get a trophy to parade, being able to say we won at Estadio da Luz - that we beat Benfica on their own patch - was gonnae be more than consolation for me. That was a victory for the ages we had in our grasp there. I'm just absolutely devastated, for the team and the entire support as much as myself. We'd all earned that. And to actually taste it - to see the path to victory unfolding so clearly in front of us, then chuck it... ach, you wouldn't be human not to be gutted.

We might yet beat Benfica at home. That will be sensational. The quick study that is Stevie G will probably have learned enough to take us to an even more magnificent away win in the latter stages of Europe this season (is Man U at Old Trafford still a possibility?).

But while I condemn no Rangers employee for last night - while I'll never deride coming back from Benfica with a point - I'll never forget the pain of the night we were two up and cruising at Estadio da Luz, in Europe, and let it go.

Apart from anything else, it's much preferable to the "joy" of watching us win easily in the league at Elgin.

Edited November 6, 2020 by Fat Eck
Ally plus Alfie = 43 goals. Eusebio scored 57 goals in Europe for Benfica.

[ian1964 10,727]

16 hours ago, craig said:

This has apparently been proven incorrect by Sparta Prague themselves on Twitter

 

[ian1964 10,727]

 

[ian1964 10,727]

 

[Ted McMinnime 356]

5 hours ago, Fat Eck said:

But ye surely have to allow a few days to feel absolutely gutted by the fact we were 3-1 up against Benfica at the Stadium of Light, against ten men, and didn't see it out. There's no crime in feeling like that and, to be honest, I think it's probably emotionally necessary. Processing what we went through last night will let me fully enjoy the next big victory 

 

Last night was the reverse. It was a short term boot to the baws which can't hide the long-term magnificence of what Gerrard's generally achieving and how focused, hungry and relentless we look this season.

But, until we get a trophy to parade, being able to say we won at Estadio da Luz - that we beat Benfica on their own patch - was gonnae be more than consolation for me. That was a victory for the ages we had in our grasp there. I'm just absolutely devastated, for the team and the entire support as much as myself. We'd all earned that. And to actually taste it - to see the path to victory unfolding so clearly in front of us, then chuck it... ach, you wouldn't be human not to be gutted.

We might yet beat Benfica at home. That will be sensational. The quick study that is Stevie G will probably have learned enough to take us to an even more magnificent away win in the latter stages of Europe this season (is Man U at Old Trafford still a possibility?).

But while I condemn no Rangers employee for last night - while I'll never deride coming back from Benfica with a point - I'll never forget the pain of the night we were two up and cruising at Estadio da Luz, in Europe, and let it go.

 

Fantastic post from Fat Eck! Sums up eloquently how I feel. It's taken me a full 24 hours to begin to come to terms with that result. I have been unable to face any sort of analysis before then. Having read through 21 pages of the thread, I still feel we threw away such a marvellous opportunity to beat a team of that calibre in their midden, albeit with 10 men! In GPL, I predicted a (hopeful) draw, but the manner we threw it away still grates. We should be 1 point away from qualification from 3 remaining games. As it is, Benfica will have a huge wake up from that game, I expect a stiffer test at the return at Ibrox, and we have a difficult trip to Poland to negotiate as well. Not saying it's not achievable, just the journey could have been a helluva lot smoother. I will never understand, with the quality of our bench, why we did not deploy the other 4 subs to stifle the opposition and see the game out. After all, we did it against Killie, why not Benfica?

[Bill 13,717]

1 hour ago, Ted McMinnime said:

I will never understand, with the quality of our bench, why we did not deploy the other 4 subs to stifle the opposition and see the game out. After all, we did it against Killie, why not Benfica?

Possibly because, unlike God, we're not perfect and sometimes get it wrong. I can live with that.

[DMAA 3,658]

1 hour ago, Ted McMinnime said:

As it is, Benfica will have a huge wake up from that game, I expect a stiffer test at the return at Ibrox

Yeh I think so. Their manager spoke highly of us after the game, said we were a quality side and he was particularly complimentary of Tavernier and Barisic. I think they probably learned a lot more from that game than we did. What I hope we learned is not to give a quality player like Waldschmidt loads of time and space to pick a pass from outside the box, because he won’t waste that opportunity. 

[MacK1950 2,379]

9 minutes ago, DMAA said:

What I hope we learned is

We have to play keep ball for two minutes at end of game added on time.

[weebluedevil 1,239]

32 minutes ago, Bill said:

Possibly because, unlike God, we're not perfect and sometimes get it wrong. I can live with that.

God's certainly not perfect, but we should be!