Rangers hold Barcelona goalless

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October 24, 2007 10:09 IST

Rangers were indebted to goalkeeper Allan McGregor for keeping Barcelona at bay in a goalless draw at Ibrox in their Champions League Group E encounter on Tuesday.

The Spanish side dominated for most of the match but could not beat McGregor. A draw left both sides on seven points from three games.

Argentine Lionel Messi had an angled shot cleared off the line on 14 minutes by Rangers's Spanish defender Carlos Cuellar.

Brazilian forward Ronaldinho struck the bar with a fierce 25-metre freekick after 23 minutes although McGregor appeared to manage a touch on the ball.

McGregor came to his side's rescue again just before halftime with a fine near post save as he flipped a diving header by Carles Puyol over the top following a magnificent diagonal ball from the left by Ronaldinho.

Barca continued to control proceedings in the second half and striker Thierry Henry missed a good opportunity to break the deadlock when he somehow headed over the top from six metres out on 69 minutes.

But Rangers raced up the field a minute later with French striker Daniel Cousin swerving in a dangerous low ball from the left which deceived the Barca defence only to fly just ahead of Barry Ferguson and Spanish striker Nacho Novo before slipping narrowly beyond the right post.

Cousin should have grabbed the opener 10 minutes later when presented with an opening on the right of the penalty area, blazing his shot wildly across the face of goal.

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