November 04, (THEWILL) – Ianis Hagi came on as a substitute and saved Leon Balogun’s blushes after the Nigerian centre back scored an own goal on Thursday in Denmark, earning a 1-1 draw for Rangers against Brondby.
In the first half, the visitors missed a lot of chances and gifted Brondby their first goal in the Europa League this season when Balogun headed into his own net just before halftime.
In the early portions of the second half, Rangers struggled to establish their flow, but Steven Gerrard’s constructive alterations paid off as Hagi ran in behind to equalise in the 77th minute.
Rangers got off to a great start, with Alfredo Morelos having a header ruled out and then blazing over after superb work in the box, before Fashion Sakala fizzed a low drive just wide.
Morelos went close with a long-range effort and Nigeria’s Joe Aribo headed into the roof of the goal, but it was the hosts who seized the lead on the stroke of half-time when Josip Radosevic flicked in a corner and Balogun inadvertently nodded past Allan McGregor.
As Gerrard made multiple second-half substitutions, the visitors pushed for an equaliser and poured players forward. Super Eagles’ defender Balogun attempted to make up for his error with a well-struck shot on the bounce, while Glen Kamara fired a long-range effort at the near post, but both were denied.
Hagi, who came on 10 minutes into the second half, grabbed onto a feed from fellow substitute Ryan Kent and smashed a low shot into the bottom-left corner to keep Rangers’ hopes alive.
With the result, the defending Scottish champions are level on points with second-placed Sparta Prague, who were defeated 3-0 by Lyon, while Brondby remain at the bottom of Group A.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
