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Sporting Lisbon hold Rangers to goalless draw - World Soccer - Yahoo! Sports
Sporting Lisbon hold Rangers to goalless draw
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By Kenny MacDonald
GLASGOW, April 3 (Reuters) - Sporting Lisbon held Rangers to a goalless draw in a fiercely fought UEFA Cup quarter-final first leg at Ibrox on Thursday.
Lee McCulloch came closest to breaking the first half deadlock two minutes from the break when he gathered the ball 25 metres out then suddenly turned to crack in a powerful low shot that flew towards the bottom left.
Keeper Rui Patricio plunged down to turn the ball one-handed for a corner.
Then in first half stoppage time McCulloch raced in to meet an inviting cross from the right by Steve Davis, but his eight-metre header was deflected narrowly past the left post.
Sporting Lisbon responded after the interval with a fine run down the left by Italian Leandro Grimi from the halfway line. He charged into the penalty area before drilling a rising shot from 10 metres that keeper Allan McGregor did well to block.
The Portuguese side had two players carried off in the opening 13 minutes, but both Liedson and then skipper Joao Moutinho recovered after treatment on the sidelines.
The return leg is on April 10.
“I felt we didn’t play as well as we have done in a few other European games at home,” Rangers manager Walter Smith told reporters. “So, therefore, I have no great complaints about the result although I am disappointed that we didn’t test their goalkeeper a bit more. But I always felt it was going to be a tight game.”
Sporting Lisbon manager Paulo Bentobut said: “We have to be confident for the next match because technically we were better and tactically we were better.” (Editing by John Mehaffey)