It is 50 years since Rangers last won a European trophy. Who knows how long they will have to wait to get this close to another. And boy, they were close.
In the heat of Seville, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side had one sweaty palm on the prize when Joe Aribo gave them the lead just before the hour, only to be taken to extra-time.
Then, one minute shy of penalties, they were loading the blue-and-white ticker tape as Ryan Kent strode onto Kemar Roofe’s pull-back. It was a goal, surely? Not so.
Rangers’ 50-year wait for a European trophy continued as Eintracht Frankfurt beat them in a penalty shootout in the Europa League final in Seville on Wednesday
Frankfurt shotstopper Kevin Trapp (left) saved Aaron Ramsey’s (right) spot-kick in the shootout
Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, morphing into a starfish, somehow found a leg to block the close-range blast. That same leg would soon be taking centre stage in the penalty shootout.
Aaron Ramsey – on as a substitute specifically to take a spot-kick and brought to Ibrox for big moments such as this – was the villain, missing his team’s fourth. It was a poor effort – slow, low and lacking conviction. Trapp’s shin gratefully repelled it. Penalties are not a lottery, and Ramsey is better than that.
The chance to be a hero fell to Rafael Borre, the Colombian striker who had forced the additional 30 minutes in the first place. His effort was high, hard and entirely convincing. Frankfurt were the winners. The team who finished a lowly 11th in the Bundesliga will be playing Champions League football next season. After a long and sticky night, it was worth its weight in perspiration.
For Rangers, a Scottish Cup final against Hearts at the weekend. Even victory in that will feel like little consolation for this – domestic trophies come around far more often than once every half a century.
Van Bronckhorst said: ‘We were very close to the silverware. When you don’t win, the emotion goes from a possible high to very low. We have come so far and I am proud of them. We had our chances, big chances. That one from Ryan at the end, what a great save.’
Rangers had taken the lead on 57 minutes and, for a brief period, they dared to dream of lifting the trophy, and with it qualification for the continent’s premier competition. Not that next season was on the minds of the 11 on the pitch or their 100,000 supporters in the city.
Rafael Borre (right) stepped up to be the hero as he calmly slotted away the winning penalty
Joe Aribo (right) broke the deadlock as he slotted past Kevin Trapp (unseen) in the 56th minute
This was all about the glory of the night, and the chance to make history half a decade on from their Cup Winners’ Cup triumph 500 miles north in Barcelona.
Aribo could have been the hero. Amid the heat and humidity, he was the coolest man inside the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium when seizing on a slip by defender Tuta and skipping clear on goal.
Given the 25-year-old spent the early part of his career as a League One midfielder, and to find himself in this position as a makeshift striker in a major European final, it would have been understandable had he fluffed his lines on such a grand stage. No chance.
Aribo took one look at the target and did not complicate matters, rolling low beyond Trapp to give Rangers an advantage they had barely deserved.
As if irked by the seeming injustice, Frankfurt wasted little time in setting after an equaliser. The only surprise was that it took another 12 minutes to arrive.
The midfielder raced through on goal after Frankfurt defender Tuta (right) slipped
Borre (second right) equalised for the German side as he stabbed in a low cross
Filip Kostic had been a threat all evening and he was afforded too much space to size a cross to the near post from the left. It was begging to be converted from the moment it left the Serbian’s boot and those prayers were answered when Borre stole between two blue jerseys to toe home. And so to extra-time, where tired bodies always seemed destined for penalties.
Rangers had emerged a couple of hours before kick-off dressed in tracksuits and minus a customary cup-final suit – they were too smart for that given temperatures approaching 40C.
But it did not take long for things to boil over on the pitch. There was a touch of the over-hyped Paul Gascoigne in the 1991 FA Cup Final about John Lundstram when, after just five minutes, he went studs-up into a head-high challenge.
John Lundstram (right) was lucky to escape a card after a high boot on Sebastian Rode (left)
The Frankfurt captain stayed down for three minutes as he received treatment to his head
Ex-Rangers star Gascoigne, then of Spurs, landed his boot in the chest of Nottingham Forest’s Garry Parker and, remarkably, avoided punishment. Surely, 21 years on, Lundstram was in danger of dismissal, especially considering the bloodied mess in which he left Frankfurt midfielder Sebastian Rode?
Not so. Not even a booking, in fact, despite the presence of VAR. Had that been the Premier League, you suspect the former Sheffield United midfielder would have been in serious trouble.
Even though Lundstram remained, the opening exchanges still held the suspicion of Frankfurt having an extra man and the first half belonged to the Germans.
The second started beneath a cloud of smoke with flares dispatched from the stands. Given the absence of real quality in the game, it did not feel as if you were missing much.
But with the red and blue fumes came an injection of colour into the contest. Finally, a battle befitting a final.
A half-volley bounced up into midfielder Daichi Kamada (left) inside the six-yard area
