Rangers' Euro misery completed by Sevilla

Published on Wednesday 9 December 2009 23:11

RANGERS' painful Champions League campaign drew to a conclusion last night with a 1-0 defeat against Sevilla.

An expertly executed penalty from Frederic Kanoute in the eighth minute secured the points for the Spanish side at the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, and although Sevilla looked capable of running amok through a shaky Rangers defence in the early stages, Walter Smith's side at least showed character to maintain a close contest.

The goal arrived following a horror mistake from Rangers defender Steven Whittaker, who first duffed a pass straight to the feet of Fernando Navarro inside the box, then tripped the Sevilla player as he attempted to atone for his initial error. Kanoute displayed all the coolness of a world-class finisher to nonchalantly roll the ball into the empty net after first watching Allan McGregor dive to his left.

Substitute Nacho Novo went close in the second half, and Lee McCulloch almost snatched a draw for Rangers with an effort in the 89th minute, but Sevilla were otherwise comfortable as they secured top spot in Group G.

Rangers knew before the game they were condemned to fourth spot, and finished with the two points they secured from their previous two away matches – against Stuttgart on matchday one and against Unirea Urziceni.

Those two sides were battling it out in Germany last night for the right to join Sevilla in the last 16, and it was Stuttgart who leapfrogged Dan Petrescu's Romanian champions into second spot, winning 3-1 at the VfB Arena.

The points were effectively secured inside the first 11 minutes when Ciprian Marica, Christian Traesch and Pavel Pogrebnyak all found the net for the Germans, and although Antonio Semedo pulled a goal back a minute into the second half, it was not enough to prevent Unirea slipping into the Europa League.

Match Report: Frederic Kanoute strike enough as Sevilla cruise