Rangers boss Pedro Caixinha apologised to the club’s fans and said he took ‘full responsibility’ for a ‘once in a lifetime’ Europa League defeat against Luxembourg’s Progres Niederkorn.
The part-timers trailed Rangers by a single goal after their first leg in Glasgow and were not expected to overturn the deficit in their opening round qualifying tie.
The Light Blues fell behind to a second-half Emmanuel Francoise goal and disaster was to follow when Sebastian Thill sealed progress, scoring only the third European goal in the minnows’ history to secure their first ever win in European football.
Niko Kranjcar, Josh Windass and Kenny Miller hit the woodwork for Rangers as they desperately tried to land an away goal and save some of their blushes but there was to be no rescue.
“We need to apologise to our fans because they gave us support and loyalty, they don’t deserve this,” Caixinha told Rangers TV afterwards.
“I assume all the responsibility.” The defeat goes down as one of the worst results in the Govan club’s history and leaves Caixinha under intense pressure as his summer rebuilding work comes under scrutiny.
The Portuguese believes the result to have been a freak occurrence and says he will learn from it.
“We could not do what we were here to do – win the game,” Caixinha added.
“It’s something that happens once in a lifetime – it happens to us today.
“I’m always a positive guy, I never give up. It’s a strong moment that we are living and we need to face it, we need all our character, personality and strength.”
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