Steven Gerrard’s European dream ended in shame tonight at Ibrox as things went wrong on and off the park.
A 0-0 draw would have taken the Ibrox side into tomorrow’s draw for the quarter and semi finals of the tournament but with 15 minutes left to play Slavia Prague were 2-0 up and playing against NINE MEN. There was no further scoring.
As the match kicked-off, in a blatant show of contempt to the Scottish Government a minute long series of fire-works went off that were shown by BT Sport set the tone for the night.
Slavia turned the screw in the 14th minute when Olayinka headed home at the front post leaving Allan McGregor looking like an old man that had pushed on one season too far.
Leon Balongun picked up a yellow card and was fortune to escape further punishment just before the break when he pulled back a Slavia forward as he prepared to shoot.
Ten minutes into the second half Gerrard showed his tactical genius by replacing Scotty Arfield with Kemar Roofe, the former Anderlecht star lasted seven minutes before getting a straight red card for a head-high assault on the Slavia keeper who was stretchered off after extensive treatment.
The roof fell in on the Ibrox side in the 73rd minute when Balogun was finally shown a second yellow card, from the free kick Stanciu popped in goal number two to leave Alex Rae and Stephen Craigan in the depths of despair.
In the 86th minute more than a dozen players jostled following a brutal foul by Connor Goldson which saw the Ibrox defender booked.
Tonight’s referee was from Orel Grinfeeld from Israel.