Soccer

Napoli work past penalty controversy to secure comfortable Ibrox win

Dubious cards and penalty retakes define a contest in which Rangers were outmatched

Tanguy Ndombele celebrates scoring for Napoli. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images
Tanguy Ndombele celebrates scoring for Napoli. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images
Ewan Murray at Ibrox
Wed Sept 14 2022 - 22:10

Rangers 0 Napoli 3

Wayne Rooney notched a late winner from the penalty spot for Manchester United the last time Ibrox staged a Champions League group stage match. Almost 12 years on, penalties defined Rangers’ return to this environment. The whiff of controversy filled the Govan air.

Allan McGregor twice denied Piotr Zielinski from 12 yards – the Polish midfielder had been ordered to retake – by the time Matteo Politano made no mistake from the same position. Napoli, so formidable in their domestic league and when hammering Liverpool in their opening Group A fixture, will claim with a fair degree of justification that they deserved to leave Glasgow with three points but Rangers dragged the Italians into a battle. After watching his team slump to successive 4-0 defeats, to Celtic and Ajax, Giovanni van Bronckhorst will look back on this tie positively. Against vastly superior opponents, Rangers were at least properly competitive for most of the game.

Rangers fans pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth. Photograph: Robert Perry/EPA
Rangers fans pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth. Photograph: Robert Perry/EPA

The passing of the Queen inevitably registered more at Ibrox than at many other football grounds across the UK. Rangers’ cultural identity is intrinsically linked to Britishness and, in turn, the royal family. A large tifo display paid tribute to the Queen as the teams emerged. A minute of perfect silence was punctured by the playing of God Save The King over the stadium’s Tannoy; it remains to be seen whether Uefa take action against that, given advice offered to British clubs before this week’s Champions League fixtures. That the referee, Antonio Mateu Lahoz, stood motionless in the centre circle as the national anthem played inferred acceptance that this would happen.

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Against this backdrop, it was curious that the match started at such pace. Rangers should have been ahead within 30 seconds, Alfredo Morelos instead heading wide from a James Tavernier cross. Napoli’s Zielinski cracked McGregor’s right-hand post with a half-volley. Scott Arfield forced Alex Meret into a fine save from long range, with Napoli’s response arriving via Giovanni Simeone. McGregor raced sharply from his goal to deny the striker. All this came within the opening 18 minutes.

Van Bronckhorst had adopted many of the principles of last season’s run to the Europa League final with his selection here. Indeed, it is a damning indictment of Rangers’ summer recruitment that not a single player who arrived during that window featured in the starting XI. Morelos, recently banished to the naughty step amid concerns over attitude and fitness, was the notable inclusion.

Napoli’s control of the latter stages of the first half arrived without serious pressure being applied to McGregor. A wonderful Zielinski free-kick somehow evaded all of his teammates and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia flashed a shot wide but otherwise the home defence coped well. Given rapid capitulations at Celtic Park and in Amsterdam, Van Bronckhorst would have gleamed satisfaction from that. For the first time in three games, Rangers were applauded off at the break.

Rangers opened the second period in a similar manner to the first. This time it was Arfield who was profligate after Tavernier afforded him a free strike at goal from 10 yards. Napoli replied via the highly rated Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who hit a fierce effort straight at McGregor after Rangers failed to clear a corner.

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Controversy was to follow. James Sands received a second yellow card for taking out Simeone as the Napoli striker latched onto a superb Zielinski pass to stride towards goal. McGregor batted away Zielinski’s penalty but Politano raced in to slot home the rebound from the tightest of angles. Var determined McGregor had jumped off his line before the penalty was struck with encroachment by Napoli players presumably meaning the re-take. Zielinski tried again, striking the kick to McGregor’s right for the second time; and with the same outcome. This time, no Napoli player was on hand to convert the loose ball. Ibrox breathed a sigh of relief, save the concern of facing the Serie A leaders for half an hour with only 10 men.

Respite was only prove brief for Rangers. Kvaratskhelia’s shot was handled by Borna Barisic, with Zielinski taking the smart option of staying well clear of the third penalty of the evening. Instead, Politano buried the ball low to McGregor’s left. Not that the goalkeeper was far away from saving that one as well.

Van Bronckhorst made a string of changes in an attempt to rescue an unlikely point. Napoli instead added gloss to the scoreline via the substitute Giacomo Raspadori before Tanguy Ndombélé, on loan from Tottenham, scored their third goal.

Rangers have been reminded about the unforgiving nature of this Champions League environment. Napoli and the charismatic Luciano Spalletti march on.

- Guardian