Rangers v Manchester United
European Champions League
Group C - Match Day 5
Wednesday 24th November
Now if some of you were quick of the mark and read last nights version of this report you'd have seen me bumble on about how my sister won tickets for tonights game in a ballot at her work.
After a quite word in my ear from my dad I've been informed that this is in fact incorrect. It turns out that although she did win them, she had to purchase them at face value for us and give them to us as early Christmas presents. £84 pounds worth of early Christmas presents!! I must thank her for the generosity and for incorrectly reporting how we came by the tickets on Wednesday.
I can't believe we're off to Ibrox and we'll be sat in with the Rangers fans. I dislike Rangers more than any other team, although Manchester United are a not to distant second. I can't believe I'm going to be sitting in with Rangers fans either. Still I've brought my old Aberdeen strip to change into after work to wear underneath my jumper just so i don't feel so dirty ha ha.
It's a 4.30pm pick up from outside work this afternoon for the drive over to Glasgow. I'm a bit late getting away from my desk and by the time I get outside I see two of my friends, Dave & Gavin also waiting.
For some reason I thought only Gavin was getting a lift so I haven't informed my dad he needs to take the baby seat he has for his Grandson out of the back seat of the motor and probably should have offered one of them a seat in the front as there a bit taller than me. Must admit it didn't look too comfortable sat back there, Gavin's almost sat on Dave's lap.
We've set off so early to take advantage of the fact Isla's also managed to get us a friend's permit for the car park right beside the stadium. Normally it's a forty five minute drive to Ibrox, but seeing as we're leaving just as the rush hour starts my dad reckons it will be nearer two hours before we get there.
No-one could have foreseen the traffic leaving Edinburgh however and we're sat nose to tail at Hermiston Gait and then we move at a snail's pace all the way to Motherwell. By the time we get to East Kilbride my dad's had enough and decides to go round the back of Glasgow and attack the drive into Ibrox from the other side.
When we get to Ibrox it's only twenty minutes to kick off and the stadium car park is full. We're denied access and have to perform a quick about turn and park elsewhere. Dave jumps out early as he's off to meet his old boy before the game, Gavin kindly poses for the pre -match photo and then bids us farewell and runs off to catch up with them. They've got seats in the main stand, we on the other hand are round in the Govan stand. I'll be honest Ibrox Park is quite an impressive building, the facade of the main building is, as Gavin informs me, a listed building. I reckon this may just be the busiest game we've been to yet, the place is heaving. Part of me is a bit jealous as it must be great having these sort of games every season.
Walking round to the turnstile I see one of the funniest things I've seen in a long while - a bloke dressed head to toe in a Union Jack outfit. I couldn't get my camera out quick enough but take it from me, he looked a total numpty.
This is followed by another funny moment. The entrance to the away end is heavily policed, some on foot and some on horseback. They were splitting the two sets of supporters up with a definite no go area in the middle 'Manchester fans this way, Rangers fans that way' was the shout. Simple you'd think. Not so for a group of Burberry capped, shell-suited Rangers fans who decide to stroll straight down the middle. One policewoman on horseback gave them a shouted word of warning to move to the designated area and when ignored she swung the horse around so it's head smacked into the head of the lead dissident. Priceless so it was. After a few choice swear words the young fella decided against a second smack and moved out of the way.
Eventually we find our way into the ground and decide that seeing as we missed out on dinner to head straight for a pie. A most other grounds we've been to there has been one, two at the most stands where you can buy food, not here there are food stands as far as the eye can see. After purchasing two we go and try and find our seats.
Again huge thanks to Isla as the seats are smack bang on the half way line. They are almost at the back of the stand though and my dad looks like he could have done with a wee shot of oxygen by the time we took our seat. We sit down just as the Champions League music is playing and the atmosphere inside the ground is electric.
The Ibrox pie is a major let down. A five out of ten at the most says my dad, too crumbly and far too hot, a poor show.
In the national papers today there was an article which stated that UEFA officials would be in the stand tonight to listen out for any sectarian singing. Rangers and Celtic have both recently been criticised for this and Rangers had been warned that they could face possible sanctions and fines if this persisted. It was great then that in the area around us some Rangers fans managed to hold off for a full 51 seconds after the game started before giving us a quick blast of a King Billy ditty.
The first piece of action takes place in the Rangers penalty box when Berbatov goes down in the box looking for a penalty after Steven Davis has barged into him making a tackle. He went far too easily and neither the referee, his penalty box assistant or the Rangers fans are fooled.
Wayne Rooney is getting booed every time he touches the ball in these opening minutes.
Fabio De Silva floats a ball into the box after seven minutes but Berbatov headed it straight into McGregor's arms.
A Rangers free kick on fifteen minutes is played in by Davis and headed into Kenny Miller's path six yards out but he could only head wide. Rangers have to win this game to have any real chance of progressing from the group and it's chance like this that must be taken.
I haven't yet figured out how I'm going to react if and when either team scores. It's tough enough for an Aberdeen and a Kilmarnock fan to be sitting in with Rangers fans I really don't think I could manage to stand and applaud a goal they scored. Same goes for Man United, although there's the added onus not to cheer them as I'd most likely get a thump round my skull from all the Rangers fans sat around me.
There's one boy sat a few rows behind us who seems to be having a competition with himself to fit as many swearwords into a sentence as possible. He's all 'Get stuck into the Manchester F**ks' & 'Come on Rangers, we're better than these Northern bastards', he uses some other technical terms that are a bit too severe for the blog. I'm just delighted I'm not sat beside him.
Twenty five minutes in and Berbatov crosses to Rooney who makes a hash of his volley. He doesn't look match fit or even interested. Still his name is sung loudly by the thousand or so Man United fans in the Copeland Road stand.
Rangers are sitting to far back in their own half, inviting Manchester to attack them. Paul Scholes is in total command of the midfield and his pin point cross field passes are a joy to watch.
Good one touch football down the right wing by Manchester United and Nani finds space but he toe-pokes the ball miles into the crowd. Five minutes before half time De Silva crossed and a Rooney header had the keeper well beaten but it hit the crossbar and was cleared. This is as close as they've come so far.
Rangers responded immediately and good work by Davis and Naismith put Miller through on goal at the corner of the penalty box. Miller ran directly at the keeper and shot when the better option was clearly to cut it back to one of his team mates in front of goal. Van Der Sar saved comfortably with his feet and the resulting corner came to nothing.
Remember the shouty boy i mentioned earlier? Well now he's having a shouty conversation with himself, one minute he's shouting that 'Rangers are better than this pish' the next he's shouting 'what do you mean pish, this is Manchester United they've won this trophy mare times than us'. He's probably being the most entertaining part of the game so far.
The most disappointing thing is the number of sectarian songs we're hearing and the amount of times a players religion is mentioned in a derogatory manner. I mean how do they even know this information.
Half time passes by, I can't be bothered with the trek to buy us another pie and the Cheerleaders are way over the other side of the pitch. I do notice however that the stadium announcer only plays Rangers songs at half time to gee the support up.
Both teams restart with the same personnel on the pitch. Nani doesn't take long to remind us of the great Olympic diver he could be as he falls to the ground after the slightest touch and wins a free kick just on the D of the penalty box. Rooney steps up and floats it up and over the wall and just the wrong side of the post. A Giggs cross is just behind Berbatov and he can only manage to volley it high and wide shortly after.
The games opened up it a fair bit now and Rooney plays a beautiful ball to Carrick just inside the box. Carrick hit it well but it was to close to McGregor who made a comfortable diving save. Carrick will feel, Fergie too no doubt, that was the best chance so far.
Rangers came back through good work by Weiss as he skipped past a couple of United players and passed towards Naismith. United defender Evans misjudges things and Naismith managed to get a toe poke on goal that was saved by the keeper.
Up the other end and Berbatov got in the way of a team mates shot on the edge of the box, he instantly controlled it, turned and fired a shot on target that McGregor did well to save.
He then threw the ball out to Miller and for a moment it was two on one in Rangers favour. The whole of the Govan stand were screaming at Miller to pass the ball inside to Naismith who would then have been through on goal all alone but Miller dilly dallied and when he did play the pass it was a poor one. Miller was booed from every part of the ground after this. Yet again he seems to have got stage fright on the big occasions.
After another Rooney miss the Rangers fans started singing ' You'll only score in a Brothel, score in a brothel' to him which was quite amusing.
Ryan Giggs bombed down the left wing and played a great ball into the middle and only a brilliant piece of defending from Broadfoot stopped it landing on the head of Berbatrov, who from only yards out would have scored. Berbatov then played a great wee chipped pass into the box for Rooney but all got his feet all tangled up and the ball was cleared. He's clearly not match fit.
Some Rangers fans have started leaving already and there is still ten minutes to go. My dad reckons this is to ensure they catch the next subway train into the town centre and connecting trains for journeys further afield. Maybe it's because my team don't qualify for these games to much these days but I think we'd all be staying until the final whistle. I mean they could still nick this yet.
The Manchester United fans clearly think this is as far as Rangers are going to progress in the Champions League as they start singing ' Thursday night, Channel 5' as a reference to the fact that once you get knocked out of this competition you get relegated to the lesser Thursday night time slot and Europa League football.
With five minutes to go Da Silva tries to get on the end of a boucing ball in the box where he's crudely stopped in his tracks by a high boot to the face from Naismith and the referee points to the spot. The home fans are incensed around us, but I'm sure once the get home and see it on the box they'll see it's a definite penalty and a sore one too.
Rooney steps forward and places the ball on the spot. There's a mass exodus of Rangers fans who start to leave even before he sends McGregor the wrong way and it's one nil United. Took some bottle to get up there and take the penalty especially as he's played so poorly, but I guess that's why he's paid the mega bucks eh?
The Manchester fans then start singing 'We must be sat in a brothel, sat in a brothel' in reference to the previous song about Rooney.
Rangers can't find a way back in the final five minutes and at full time the stadium announcer informs everyone that Valencia have won 6 - 1 and Rangers are confirmed as having come third in the group and that a Europa League spot awaits them.
All in all it was a pretty poor game, and for a while I thought this might turn out to be the first nil nil of our adventure. The atmosphere with exception of the sectarian songs was brilliant and the view unbelievable but I'm glad it's time to go and I can leave the home section of Ibrox never to return again.
The Statistics
Ticket: Early Christmas present from my sister. Otherwise it would have been £42 per adult.
Programme: £4
Attendance: 49,674
Pie: £1.60
Pie Marks: 5 out of 10
Man of the Match: Gavin & Dave Steven Davis (Rangers) Dad - Paul Scholes (Manchester United) Me - Ryan Giggs (Manchester United)
Final Score: Rangers 0 v Manchester United 1
Mileage: 107 miles
Fascinating fact of the Day: Largest crowd ever in Britain was in 1939 for a league match against Celtic when 118,567 attended the game.
Next Game: Rugby Park (Kilmarnock)
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