Rangers fail to weather Sturm

Rangers must now go to the death in Group D, and they must hope it will not be to the death throes. With great resolve, Sturm Graz have stormed to the top of the section and, with Monaco also seeing off Galatasaray, Rangers must now beat the French champions in two weeks to have any hope of advancing.

If this is anything to go by, that night at Ibrox will be a shocking strain for Glaswegians. Rangers are currently in dire straits and last night ended with defeat compounded by the sending-off of Arthur Numan after the defender's second caution in the final minutes. Even then Gilbert Prilasnig found time to to shoot home with a low drive to add to Sergei Yuran's earlier goal and complete the Austrian victory.

Rangers faced a minor storm here, much of it whipped up by themselves. Coming off the back of one win in five games, the spirit around Ibrox already seemed fragile.

The sight of the team captain Lorenzo Amoruso and Dick Advocaat angrily bawling at each other hardly improved matters.

Neither did Sturm Graz being allowed to skip into a 19th-minute lead.

Many of the night's salvoes were stressful for Rangers. Bert Konterman was booked, putting him out of the Monaco game. So many of Rangers' efforts also failed to perturb Josef Schicklgruber in goal.

Advocaat and Amoruso have famously been at odds, but the captain's refusal to heed the manager's instructions with Rangers in disarray seemed one conceit too far. Rangers quickly changed their shape from a defensive trio to an orthodox back four but by then damage had been inflicted. Yuran's stealth inside saw to that.

By the time Prilasnig's long pass had found Hannes Reinmayr out on the right, the Rangers defence was already wilting. Reinmayr's swift lob released Yuran in the area and he made the rest simple.

Such was Rangers' defensive confusion that Barry Ferguson, a midfielder, was frantically attempted to make the saving tackle. Yuran skipped around him and the goalkeeper Jesper Christiansen to prod home from eight yards.

Rangers desperately needed input and incision from their cultured Dutchman, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, but having been out injured for three weeks he lasted only 55 minutes.

His low 20-yard effort in the first half - saved by Schicklgruber - had been one of Rangers' highlights in a dispiriting opening period and his loss was a further blow to their morale. Sturm, meanwhile, continued to ferret their way towards Christansen's goal.

Sturm Graz: Schicklgruber; Neukirchner, Popovic, Korsos; Memedov, Schupp, Reinmayr (Minavand, h-t), Fleurquin, Prilasnig; Yuran, Kocijan.

Rangers: Christiansen; Porrini, Amoruso,, Konterman; Kanchelskis, Ferguson, Tugay, Van Bronckhorst (McCann, 55min), Numan; Wallace, De Boer.

Referee: A Lopez (Spain).