Rangers 1-1 Aris Limassol: Ross McCausland keeps hosts second in Europa League group

Ross McCausland’s first Rangers goal secured continental football into 2024, but the Europa League draw with Aris Limassol means the Ibrox side may yet drop into the Conference League.

First-half substitute McCausland struck the equaliser low off the post from the right just after the turnaround.

Victory would have sealed Europa League progress for the Ibrox side but leaders Real Betis, Rangers and Sparta Prague, who are third, remain in contention for the top two slots.

Rangers – who visit Betis in a tough final fixture – will finish no lower than third, which provides a Conference League parachute.

Though Aris were careless in possession early on, they created the first opening when left-back Caju’s stinging drive had to be turned wide by Butland.

Rangers were without suspended Connor Goldson and ineligible Leon Balogun in central defence and the makeshift partnership of John Souttar and Ben Davies were caught out when Babicka latched on to Aleksandr Kokorin’s long ball and showed enough composure to find the net.

Todd Cantwell had lost possession earlier in the move and the midfielder soon made way for winger McCausland.

And the switch paid dividends just after the break as the 20-year-old received Danilo’s pass and sent the home crowd into raptures.

Sam Lammers was next to be withdrawn and his replacement, Tom Lawrence, unearthed a chance for Danilo but the striker’s touch let him down.

Lawrence then released McCausland and the winger this time cut inside only to have his effort blocked.

A Danilo header was saved by Vana and though Aris had faded as an attacking force, substitute Mariusz Stepinski’s headed chance had the home crowd worried.

Rangers deserved parity but fell short of the inspiration needed to eke out victory.

Player of the match – John Lundstram

Subs make a difference but Rangers a work in progress – analysis

When Rangers travelled to Cyprus in early October, they were in turmoil. Three domestic defeats had brought Michael Beale’s managerial tenure to an abrupt end and things did not improve in Limassol as Aris ran out 2-1 winners.

The return match was heading in a similar direction until McCausland and later Lawrence made their impact from the bench.

McCausland provided the width Cantwell struggled to deliver while Lawrence’s distribution and neatness in possession was badly missed by the hosts in the first half.

Philippe Clement remains unbeaten as Rangers boss but his team are still a work in progress. Summer capture from the MLS, Jose Cifuentes, is adjusting to the pace of the European game while Abdallah Sima’s scoring has hit a dry spell after an early-season purple patch.

Nonetheless, Rangers remain active and competitive domestically and in Europe as the season nears its midway point.

What the managers said

Rangers manager Philippe Clement: “We all wanted to win. We started the game well, we had good pressing but missed the final pass.

“I felt some nervousness in the team, maybe because of the occasion, so that is something to work on for sure. After you concede an unnecessary goal, you make it more difficult for yourself.”

Aris Limassol manager Aleksey Shpilevsky: “The fact that we are undefeated against this big team, it is like a miracle not only for Aris but for all of Cyprus.

“We are very disappointed about the fact that we didn’t manage to win. It was possible. It was not the best game from our side but we didn’t allow too many chances for Rangers, the way it might be expected.”

Match stats

• Rangers have avoided defeat in each of their last three games in three major European competitions (W2 D1) – doing so for the first time since a run of seven between October 2021 – March 2022.
• Rangers have avoided defeat in all three of their home games in the group stage of a major European competition for the first time since 2020-21 in the Europa League.
• Aris Limassol are yet to keep a clean sheet in the Europa League this season, while they have conceded eight goals away from home. Only Swedish side Häcken have conceded more such goals in the Europa League this term (nine).
• Ross McCausland (20 years 202days) is the youngest player to score for Rangers in major European competition since Nathan Patterson’s (19y 132d) strike against Royal Antwerp in February 2021, also coming in the Europa League.
• McCausland is the youngest Northern Irish player to score in major European competition since Michael O’Neill in 1989 in the UEFA Cup (20 years, 118 days); O’Neill gave McCausland his Northern Ireland debut earlier this month.

What’s next?

Rangers host St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday (15:00 GMT). The Ibrox side conclude their Group C campaign on 14 December away to Real Betis (20:00) while Aris Limassol host Sparta Prague.