Forty-five seconds into their Europa League campaign, everything was looking rosy for Villarreal, as Carlos Bacca put them ahead against Rangers, but the team from Glasgow fought back and ultimately earned a 2-2 draw.
Their first equaliser from Scott Arfield was immediately followed up by a Gerard Moreno goal, but Villarreal‘s defence crumbled once again and Kyle Lafferty ensured the spoils were shared on the opening matchday.
This was a thriller from the first minute, with Bacca‘s early goal.
Rangers centre-backs Connor Goldson and Joe Worrall both got close enough to the Colombian to have dealt with the danger, but the striker somehow managed to squirm away with the ball still under his control and he then struck a powerful lob over Allan McGregor, who was slightly off his line.
While the Spanish side passed the ball around for fun in the minutes following their opener, Rangers started to wrestle some control away from their hosts in the final 10 minutes of the first half, even if they couldn’t test Villarreal‘s backup goalkeeper Andres Fernandez.
Into the second half, McGregor didn’t seem to have learned his lesson and rushed off his line a couple more times, allowing Bacca and Pablo Fornals to shoot at an half-open goal from distance, but both players missed their opportunities.
Villarreal were made to pay for their wastefulness, with Rangers equalising in the 67th minute as Arfield emphatically finished a cutback from Daniel Candeias.
Yet the home side responded excellently and retook the lead within two minutes.
Gerard Moreno had only just been substituted on and, like his teammate Bacca, he scored with one of his first touches, as he cut inside the box and finished low into the bottom corner.
Once again, though, Javi Calleja‘s side couldn’t hold onto their lead and Lafferty got to a Borna Barisic cross before Victor Ruiz to convert and to send the travelling support – of around 2,000 – wild with delight in the 76th minute.
While Villarreal sought to retake the lead once again, the best chances of the closing stages actually fell to the Scottish side, with Graham Dorrans striding forward into the opposition half in stoppage time and sliding a ball through for Arfield, whose shot was saved to ensure this one finished 2-2.
While five matches remain in this group and while there is a long way to go, this will have gone some way to numbing the pain of the Rangers fans who still remember the Rodolfo Arruabarrena goal at the Estadio de la Ceramica in 2006, which knocked them out on away goals at the last 16 stage of the Champions League.
The return game at Ibrox on November 29 promises to be quite an occasion.
