Europa League: Liverpool Loanee Ejaria Scores Again For Rangers, Ufa's Igboun Shines, Sadiq Ignored

Published: August 30, 2018

Scottish Premiership side Rangers, who are coached by Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, have advanced to the group stage of the UEFA Europa League after beating Russian side Ufa 2-1 on aggregate on Thursday evening.

As expected, three Nigerian stars were named in the match day squad for the game staged at Stadion Neftyanik (Ufa), with Rangers number ten Ovie Ejaria and Ufa main striker Sylvester Igboun starting for their respective sides.

Nigeria U23 international Sadiq Umar remains out of favour at the British club, having failed to make his full competitive debut for the eighth successive game in all competitions.

Liverpool loanee Ejaria gave Rangers a dream start when he scored with a screamer in the ninth minute, his second goal for the club after opening his account vs Motherwell at the start of this week.

The former Golden Eaglets trainee almost doubled the advantage in the 31st minute but his curling effort on goal was saved by goalkeeper Aleksandr Belenov.

With the scoreboard reading 1-1, Igboun missed a glorious chance to give Ufa a 2-1 lead when his header went wide in first-half stoppage time.

On 78 minutes, the Super Eagles striker headed over the bar before receiving a booking with four minutes remaining for a challenge on Halliday.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : rangers.co.uk