Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Rangers' hopes of making an impact in this season's Uefa Cup may already be fatally damaged at the first hurdle following an embarrassing defeat by Viktoria Zizkov here last night.
The home side scored early through their captain, Ales Pikl, and, after Barry Ferguson had seen a penalty saved just before half-time, Ludek Straceny doubled the lead on the hour mark. Rangers must now put in a memorable Ibrox performance if the tie is to be salvaged.
"I'm very disappointed with the performance tonight," a deflated Rangers manager, Alex McLeish, said. "We are capable of playing so much better than that. We have to bounce back. I want to see an angry reaction from the players. We will have to make up for it,and to the fans who followed us here to Prague."
Viktoria are such infrequent European campaigners that Rangers could have been forgiven for knowing nothing about them when the draw was made. Scouting trips seemed to indicate that they were nothing special despite almost winning the Czech championship last season.
Yet only seven minutes were on the clock when Pikl rose the highest in the box to meet a Straceny free-kick with a header that flew past Stefan Klos.
From then on the home side seemed content to defend and despite plenty of possession, Rangers found chances hard to come by. Two did come Craig Moore's way however, with the big Australian twice sending headers narrowly wide.
Then came Ferguson's miss from the spot. Bob Malcolm surged forward only to be pulled back by Jan Buryan in the area. Up stepped Ferguson, only for the goalkeeper Pavel Kucera to guess right and save.
Zizkov doubled their lead after 60 minutes. From a Rangers corner, Kucera launched a long ball downfield and Straceny was on hand to beat Klos coolly.
Ricksen almost pulled a goal back, but Michal Scasny cleared his shot off the line. There was another close call when a Peter Lovenkrands cross hit the crossbar. But the bar also saved Rangers the ignominy of a heavier defeat when Pikl hit a free-kick with such venom that Klos could only divert it off the frame.
Viktoria Zizkov (4-4-2): Kucera; Buryan, Mlejnsky, Klimpl, Smarda; Scasny, Sabou, Pikl, Janousek (Kroty, 84); Straceny (Licka, 89), Chihuri (Sebesta, 30). Substitutes not used: Vacek (gk), Mikulik, Dirnbach, Chvatal.
Rangers (4-4-2): Klos; Muscat (Konterman, 60), Moore, Malcolm, Ross; Ricksen, Ferguson, De Boer (Mols, 75), Lovenkrands; Caniggia (Latapy, 87), Arveladze. Substitutes not used: McGregor (gk), Dodds, Gibson, Dowie.
Referee: J Santiago (Spain).
* Aberdeen drew 0-0 with Hertha Berlin in their Uefa Cup first round, first leg at Pittodrie last night, which was their 100th match in European competition.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments