Alex Berenguer's penalty was saved by Liam Kelly, because 10-man Rangers athletic Bilbao held a 0-0 draw in the quarterfinals first stage on Thursday on Thursday.
In a bizarre turn of events at Ibrox, Berenguer thought he had put Bilbao ahead in the 76th minute when an excellent Kelly -Save fell kindly for him to hit an empty net.
But after a few minutes of total confusion, the VAR did not allow the goal for handball against the teammate Guruzeta van Berenguer, but then a penalty was awarded to the visitors for a handball by Dujon Sterling only a few seconds before the athletic player had treated it.
It was Berenguer who then performed to take the punishment and, remarkably enough, saw his efforts saved by the waving stage of Kelly, who did his chances of taking over Jack Butland as number one of Rangers.
Full time: Rangers 0-0 Athletic Club | #Uel
A fighting performance in the first legs at Ibrox.
Everything to play for in Bilbao next Thursday pic.twitter.com/v8ku279nkx
– Rangers Football Club (@Rangersfc) 10 April 2025
Rangers had to play the majority of the game with 10 men after Robin Propper was sent away in the 13th minute for a last lung on Inaki Williams.
Propper was initially booked, but the VAR sent referee Istvan Kovacs to the monitor and then upgraded his decision to a red card.
For their red and white wall of traveling supporters, Bilbao stacked on the pressure for the rest of the game, including 12 minutes of injury time, but the side of Barry Ferguson put their bodies on the line to keep the same level, even to nine men while Sterling was taken away on a stretcher by minutes.
Debrief data: back against the wall
Rangers suffered their first red card in the big European competition since James Sands was sent against Napoli in the Champions League in September 2022, and since the resignation of Propper came so early, it is no surprise that it was a case of back against the wall.
The hosts did not succeed in registering a shot on goal, the first time for them in the Europa League since April 2022, against Sporting Braga.
In the meantime, Bilbao had 19 shots, which last managed more in large European competition without scoring in September 2017. However, only three of their efforts were on goal. They generated 2.37xg compared to Rangers' 0.14xG.
The hero in the night, Kelly, has made a total of three saves and the keepers of Rangers have saved three of the last seven penalties they have confronted in the major European competition, the first two courtesy of Allan McGregor, one in the Europa League and one in the Champions League.