Fenerbahce 1-3 Rangers: Surreal night for Barry Ferguson as another thrilling Euro show defies all logic

Even the self-professed Special One might find it hard to rationalise the story of Rangers’ season to date.

Invariably poor when pitted against domestic opponents, the same players emerge from the dry ice and take to the European stage like it’s their natural domain.

Incapable of seeing off Queen’s Park, St Mirren and Motherwell on home soil in recent weeks, this stirring display against the might of Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce was entirely in keeping with a campaign which has long been devoid of all logic.

While they still have some work to do to close out a place in the quarter-finals, nothing that was witnessed here suggests it’s beyond them. This thrilling run seems set to go on.

Ahead of his managerial debut on the European stage, Barry Ferguson had acknowledged that he was up against a master in Mourinho, but believed the experience of his backroom staff could offset that.

After all the fears that the meeting with the Portuguese great could end up in humiliation, the interim manager and his cohorts concocted the perfect plan. What a night this was for the club’s former skipper.

Thrust into the post three years after his last job at the Indodrill Stadium with Alloa, he would not have been human if he didn’t find the prospect of going head-to-head with Mourinho in Istanbul just a little surreal.

Yet there he was at full-time, having won the first leg hands down, taking the applause of a travelling support who could hardly believe their eyes. Few, frankly, gave them a prayer of stopping a Fenerbahce side that was 18 games unbeaten going into this.

Having failed to turn up against Motherwell at the weekend, this was a night in which every Rangers player belatedly stood up to be counted.

They played with tempo, purpose and personality, rarely letting Fenerbahce find their rhythm.

The much-maligned Cyriel Dessers was a constant thorn in the side of the Turks, scoring, claiming an assist for Vaclav Cerny and twice being denied further goals by marginal offside calls. It was Cerny who claimed his second and Rangers’ third late on to leave Mourinho’s men needing a miracle in Glasgow next week.

Sitting on the Asian side of Istanbul, the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium really is something to behold on such nights.

Since early afternoon, the adjacent cafes and bars in the Kadikoy district had been thronging with fans wearing the famous yellow and blue jerseys.

By the time the teams emerged, the noise inside the arena was thunderous, the coordinated chanting behind each goal booming into the night sky.

Ferguson must have spent the past five days fixating over which approach to take here. By playing an extra midfielder in an innovative 3-4-2-1, the interim manager hoped to prevent the Turks from overrunning his side.

It worked, but this was no rear-guard action. Not by a long chalk. While there were inevitably periods when Rangers had their backs to the wall, they tried to fight fire with fire.

They pressed high at the right moments. They kept their composure when yellow shirts swarmed around them. They blocked and tackled all night.

Rangers have made a habit of starting domestic games poorly recently, but they came flying out of the traps here.

Their aggression and pressing seemed to startle their opponents and saw them take the lead in just six minutes. Mohamed Diomande looked to have lost his chance of picking Sebastian Szymanski’s pocket as the Pole tried to dance his way out of trouble on the edge of his own box. Having managed to extend his leg to win possession, Diomande watched Milan Skriniar panic as he attempted to stop his progress.

Although the ball fell kindly for Dessers, he still had work to do to sidestep the keeper and find the target. Caglar Soyuncu slid in to try and prevent the ball from crossing the line. The Spanish referee’s whistle deemed his mission unsuccessful. What a start. For just a few seconds, the home fans were silenced.

As the visitors went for a quick second, only inches prevented Diomande from heading home Dessers’ cross. Ferguson roared his approval from the sidelines.

Fenerbahce responded. Youssef El-Nesyri, the Moroccan forward, sent Mert Muldur’s cut-back into the stands and buried his face in his hands. Edin Dzeko’s low strike then looked net-bound all the way until Jack Butland extended his left arm.

The keeper’s next involvement was highly unfortunate. Dashing from his line to deal with a ball over the top, his head smashed into Robin Propper’s, leaving the Dutchman in a daze. Leon Balogun sprung from the bench.

It was a wretched stroke of luck. And within a minute, the revamped visiting defence was breached.

Szymanski’s corner to the near post was clipped by the heads of both Nicolas Raskin and Skriniar. The ball looped to the far post. Alexander Djiku, himself an early substitute, produced an astonishing acrobatic finish with his right foot.

What resilience Rangers showed to retake the lead before the break, though. The goal was created and finished by the excellent Cerny.

Drifting off the flank to pick a pocket of space, he drove at a defence that seemed strangely disinclined to engage with him. He released the ball to Dessers and dashed to the front post. The forward’s pass back across goal took out two defenders. Cerny wrapped his left foot around it and guided it home.

A cherished half-time lead was secured when John Souttar threw himself in the way of Muldur’s drive.

Dessers thought he’d claimed his side’s third at the outset of the second half when he buried a rebound off keeper Irfan Can Egribayat only for VAR to spot that Raskin had started offside.

Remarkably, the forward would be denied again through the same means seven minutes later when he strayed just beyond the defensive line when receiving Jefte’s pass. The expected spell of Fenerbahce pressure took a while to materialise. Allan Saint-Maximin put one on a plate for El-Nesyri. His header was weak and wide.

Fenerbahce resorted to hopeful crosses which were dealt with comfortably by those stationed in front of Butland. Whenever the visitors won the ball back, the Turks looked wide open and vulnerable.

With nine minutes remaining, the third goal which Rangers deserved arrived when Raskin played a beautiful killer pass into acres of space. Cerny showed superb composure to carry the ball, fire it beyond the keeper and plant one foot in the last eight of the tournament.