Champions League play-off: Rangers & PSV draw in first-leg epic

Rangers put plenty in to that and go to Dingwall for an early kick-off on Saturday before heading to the Netherlands.

PSV, meanwhile, will have the trackies on and the feet up. Will that be decisive?

PSV manager Peter Bosz: "This is what we expected. I thought we’d be dominant here and they can play counter well and really fast.

"The energy in the team when the crowd is there behind them then the atmosphere was there

"On the other end, I think we played well, a good position game and it goes down a bit. So more or less what I expected.

"I'm glad we don't have a game this weekend so we can prepare for next week."

When quizzed about what he needs his team to do for the next leg and how they can do it?

"Score more goals and don't concede the goals we conceded today," he jokes. "Football is easy."

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Former Rangers player Malik Tillman dominated a fair bit of the pre-match discourse but he never featured this evening.

Could he have an impact in the return leg like Matondo did this evening?

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Rangers manager Michael Beale tells TNT Sports: “We need to get into with league game this weekend then we’ll go there and it’s a straight shoot out.

“I thought the front three worked really hard, Cyriel Dessers, that’s his best performance for Rangers so far. I was delighted for Abdallah Sima with the goal.

“There were moments I wanted us to keep the ball more but you have to understand the magnitude of the game.

“They’re an extremely talented side going forward, you can see that, so defensively strong.

“Our disappointment is we kept Jack [Butland] pretty much clean but we conceded from a corner.

“Next week they’ll have to come for us because it’s in their stadium and we’ll get different spaces.

“We're going to need players in big spaces who can run in behind and that’s what the two goalscorers tonight give us.

“I don’t think they’ll underestimate us, but they better not. This is a PSV team who haven’t been beaten since February and we nearly did tonight."

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Michael Beale lavished praise on PSV's attacking prowess pre-match, and it almost seemed at times in the first half as if there was a hesitancy about Rangers when it came to committing men forward.

Borna Barisic and James Tavernier stayed deep, leaving Abdallah Sima, Cyriel Dessers and Todd Cantwell a little isolated. But the Ibrox side became more positive and reaped the benefits with Rabbi Matondo's goal.

That they conceded relatively cheaply so soon afterwards will sting, but Beale can reflect that his side can play better than this. Much better. They will need to next week but that is a challenge for another day.

Click here to read Richard's match report in full.

Eh, that was Rabbi Matondo's first Rangers goal tonight.

He signed last summer. That was his 31st game.

Out of all the players used by Rangers this evening, Rabbi Matondo's cameo saw him play the highest up the pitch on average. He's number 17 on this graph from Opta here.

As Thommo said, he was the ideal out ball for Rangers when they were weathering the PSV storm.

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It's still not a complete performance, but there are so many positives for Michael Beale to take.

I think the work rate and application were excellent throughout the match. I felt as though they carried a threat. He knows he's got players who can impact the game to bring them on.

It'll be interesting to see whether or not he starts Matondo over in the Netherlands because you are expecting Rangers to be under the kosh, they need an out ball and Dessers doesn't have that ability and Danilo maybe doesn't have the physicality.

So between them, I'd be tempted to start Matondo, just for that out ball, just for that surprise element he can bring.

He'll be full of confidence after his goal this evening.

Rabbi Matondo, what a cameo.

The winger had more shots than any other Rangers player in his 23-minute cameo.

No team-mate bettered his four touches in the PSV box either.

Is it time to get him into the starting XI?

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Rangers defender Conor Goldson tells TNT Sports: "It was a good game of football, they’re obviously a good side.

"Our fans stuck with us, obviously it's hard when teams come here and have a lot of the ball. We suffered together and [the fans] were great.

"Sima comes up with a moment of magic for the first and for the second, that’s what Rabbi can do.

"He’s a top player but still young, we need to push him to do that more regularly.

"Over the 90 minutes we defended well as a whole team but we can’t give away goals from corners.

"It means everything to us, we had a bad year in the Champions League last year and we want to rectify that this year."

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Think Michael Beale still has Antonio Colak's number?

If you cast your mind back 12 months, it was the Croat's decisive goal that did the damage in Eindhoven last season.

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If they can replicate they last 10 minutes in the away leg...

On the face of it, I think Rangers finished the stronger team.

PSV's defence looked a bit ropey at times.

So I think Rangers will create chances next week in Eindhoven.

Rangers were second best for much of this game - more blood and sweat than pass and move at times - but dug in to eke out a creditable result.

Had Danilo shown a touch more composure when presented with an opening at the death, victory might have been theirs. Instead, they go against next Wednesday. And it's still anyone's guess how this tie will end.

That's that. What a game.

Just like 12 months ago, the first-leg play-off at Ibrox ends in a 2-2 draw.

Rangers will probably take it given PSV dominated large spells.

What a dig!

Rabbi Matondo looks like peak Luis Figo here.

The next corner is cleared as far as the winger and his stunning volley whistles just past the top-left corner.

Ibrahim Sangare heads the corner backwards and John Souttar looks to nod it in at the back post but he gets a nudge from Luuk de Jong.

Not enough for a pen.