Ishaq Mustafa
“Fear and panic” cost Rangers as they crashed out of the Champions League after losing to 10-man Malmo at a full Ibrox, says manager Steven Gerrard.
The Scottish champions levelled the third qualifying round tie on aggregate with Alfredo Morelos’s goal, and looked well placed when Malmo’s Bonke Innocent was sent off before half-time.
But Antonio Colak scored twice in four minutes early in the second half and Rangers, despite dominating the ball and creating a fistful of chances, were unable to respond.
Now a Europa League play-off awaits against Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty or Alashkert of Armenia next week as Rangers became the second Scottish side to be knocked out – after Celtic’s defeat by Denmark’s Midtjylland.
Alarmingly for Gerrard, it is a third defeat in a row for Rangers – the first time that has happened since May 2015.
“We did really well for 45 minutes, but we got two restarts badly wrong and paid for it,” the manager told Premier Sports.
“The most frustrating part is we’ve lost the second half to 10 men. To be 1-0 up and then go 2-1 down, a bit of fear and panic set in. We’ve got the second-half performance wrong and that’s on all of us.
“We’ve lost three games out of four and, at Rangers, that is not good enough.”
