Rangers let an early lead slip as Unirea Urziceni thumped the Scottish champions 4-1 at a stunned Ibrox.
Unirea Urziceni thump Scottish champions 4-1 at Ibrox
Rangers let an early lead slip as Unirea Urziceni thumped the Scottish champions 4-1 at a stunned Ibrox.
There were three own goals on the night - as well as a missed Gers penalty - as Walter Smith's side lost to sit rooted to the bottom of UEFA Champions League Group G.
But few would have predicted such a scoreline as the Scottish champions got off to a dream start with a goal in the second minute.
It came after Jerome Rothen's corner found Pedro Mendes on the edge of the box, whose shot then took a deflection off Ricardo Vilana and into the net.
Gers almost doubled the advantage in the 11th minute when Mendes' free-kick found Kenny Miller in the box but he headed just over from 12 yards out.
Level
But Dan Petrescu's side were level on 32 minutes when Marius Bilasco netted at the far post from a low Pablo Brandan cross from the left.
Brandan was then booked for a challenge on Rothen and from the subsequent free-kick, David Weir headed onto Joao Bruno Fernandes' left arm and a penalty was awarded in the 37th minute.
But visiting keeper Daniel Tudor dived to his right to push Steven Davies' spot-kick out.
At the start of the second period, Kyle Lafferty came on for Mendes as Rangers pushed to re-take the lead.
But it was the Romanians who created the first chance and Allan McGregor had to pull off a great save to deny Bilasco.
From the subsequent corner, Iulian Apostol's cross was back-heeled by Bruno Fernandez and the ball took a slight deflection off Lafferty into the net.
Worse
Gers' night then got even worse in the 60th minute when Balan's free-kick from the left was headed into his own net by Lee McCulloch.
Brandan then completed the rout five minutes later when his shot was deflected by Steven Naismith into the net.
Late on, Dacian Varga's shot from the right hit the crossbar and boos rung out around Ibrox at the final whistle.
This second 4-1 home European defeat in succession leaves Gers bottom of Group G with just one point from three games and facing the return game in Romania in a fortnight knowing only a victory will suffice.
| Rangers |
Team Statistics |
Unirea Urziceni |
| 1 |
Goals |
4 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 1 |
Shots on Target |
3 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
6 |
| 7 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 4 |
Corners |
2 |
| 21 |
Fouls |
16 |
| 1 |
Offsides |
0 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 78.6 |
Passing Success |
76.5 |
| 16 |
Tackles |
24 |
| 87.5 |
Tackles Success |
75 |
| 55.9 |
Possession |
44.1 |
| 51.4 |
Territorial Advantage |
48.6 |
|
