Group G
Rangers 3-2 Porto
Manager Alex McCleish handed full debuts to Oliver Bernard and Francis Jeffers as his Rangers side earned what he described as a “fantastic” 3 – 2 victory over the 2003-04 Champions, after twice surrendering the lead.
“I cannot praise the players highly enough”, he said.
“There was a determination and spirit to our team. Porto are very good technical side, so we knew we had to get stuck in and stop them”.
Winger Peter Lovendrands vindicated his manager’s decision to return him to the starting line up after being dropped at the weekend, as he fired the home side into a 1- o lead in the 34 minute – much against he run of play.
Two minutes after the interval, however, Porto’s energy and incision finally yielded a goal, courtesy of striker Pepe, who subsequently score a second to cancel out Dado Prso’s 59th minute cose-range effort.
After using their quota of substitutes, Porto were unable to replace Timoslav Sokota and Ricardo Costa, both of whom were struggling with injuries. Thereafter, Rangers siezed the initiative, and bagged all three points when Kyrgiakos stepped up to score a header 5 minutes from time.
Rangers 3–2 FC Porto
Scorers:
Rangers : P Lovenkrands 35, D Prso 59, S Kyrgiakos 85
Porto: Pepe 47, 71
