|
By Desmond Kane GLASGOW, Dec 9 - Rangers manager Alex McLeish felt
a spate of injuries had cost his side dear after Tuesday's 3-1
Champions League defeat to Panathinaikos killed off the Scottish
champions' European hopes and sent the Greeks into the UEFA Cup. "The result is disappointing, of course, but I think things
caught up with us tonight and we showed our inexperience when
the score was 1-1," said McLeish, whose side finished bottom of
the group and missed out on a UEFA Cup third round spot. "When I first came into management I was told not to get
injuries or suspensions and these are things you can't legislate
for." Rangers were missing the injured Ronald de Boer, Mikel
Arteta, Christian Nerlinger, Craig Moore and Steven Thompson
against Panathinaikos, who reached the last eight of the UEFA
Cup last season before losing to winners FC Porto. "I think our fans will be behind us for the UEFA Cup games
after this result and Panathinaikos showed they are a hard team
to beat when we play well," said coach Itzhak Shum. "Rangers are a very good team but I said to my team at
halftime that we had to believe because we could win." McLeish's side struck first through Michael Mols after 28
minutes only for the visitors to hit back with goals from
Raimondas Zutautas (32), Angelos Basinas (62) and Michalis
Konstantinou (80) to seal their first win in six group matches. Both teams finished with four points behind Manchester
United and VfB Stuttgart, who both qualified for the Champions
League knockout stage, but Panathinaikos have the better
head-to-head record after a 1-1 draw in Athens last October. The defeat marked the end of a disappointing European
campaign for Rangers whose only victory came in a 2-1 home win
over Stuttgart in the opening match. "There were a couple of outstanding goals from Panathinaikos
from outside the box and they had too much experience," added
McLeish. "We started off well in the Champions League but we have
stumbled through it ever since with one problem after another
and it's unfortunate that we can't play in the UEFA Cup."
|
