Rangers 0-0 Athletic Bilbao: Kelly´s heroics see scores kept level

Alex Berenguer’s penalty was saved by Liam Kelly as 10-man Rangers held Athletic Bilbao to a 0-0 draw in Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg.

In a bizarre turn of events at Ibrox, Berenguer thought he had put Bilbao ahead in the 76th minute when a superb Kelly save dropped kindly for him to lash into an empty net.

But following a few minutes of utter confusion, the VAR disallowed the goal for handball against Berenguer’s team-mate Gorka Guruzeta, but then a penalty was awarded to the visitors for a handball by Dujon Sterling just seconds before the Athletic player had handled it.

It was Berenguer who then stepped up to take the penalty and, remarkably, saw his effort saved by the flailing leg of Kelly, who did his chances of usurping Jack Butland as Rangers’ number one no harm.

Full-Time: Rangers 0-0 Athletic Club | #UEL

A battling first-leg performance at Ibrox.

All to play for in Bilbao next Thursday pic.twitter.com/V8Ku279NkX

— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) April 10, 2025

Rangers had to play the majority of the match with 10 men after Robin Propper was sent off for a last-ditch lunge on Inaki Williams in the 13th minute.

Propper was initially booked, but the VAR sent referee Istvan Kovacs to the monitor, and he subsequently upgraded his decision to a red card.

In front of their red and white wall of travelling supporters, Bilbao piled on the pressure for the remainder of the game, which included 12 minutes of injury time, but Barry Ferguson’s side put their bodies on the line to keep the tie level, even going down to nine men as Sterling was carried off on a stretcher with minutes remaining.

Data Debrief: Backs against the wall

Rangers suffered their first red card in major European competition since James Sands was sent off against Napoli in the Champions League in September 2022, and given Propper’s dismissal came so early, it is no surprise it was a case of backs against the wall.

The hosts failed to register a shot on target, the first time that has happened for them in the Europa League since April 2022, against Sporting Braga.

Meanwhile, Bilbao had 19 shots, last managing more in major European competition without scoring in September 2017. Only three of their efforts, however, were on target. They generated 2.37xG compared to Rangers’ 0.14xG.

The hero on the night, Kelly, made three saves in total, and Rangers’ goalkeepers have saved three of the last seven penalties they have faced in major European competition, the first two courtesy of Allan McGregor, one in the Europa League and one in the Champions League.