Rangers 1-1 Parma 24th November 1998 UEFA Cup Last 16 First Leg Having seen off Wisla Krakow in the second round of the UEFA Cup, Parma faced much stiffer opposition in the form of Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers in the last 16. Alberto Malesani and his side had three weeks to prepare for the tough trip to Govan. However, the Parma coach just couldn’t find a consistent formula. The Parma tactician faced the same problems in his preparations, first a draw away to Bari before hammering Perugia 4-1 at home, however Parma would face defeat in Sardinia as Mohamed Kallon’s strike gave Cagliari all three points, sending Parma to Scotland with a lot on their mind. Parma were not the only one’s with a lot to think about before the trip to Ibrox. Dick Advocaat’s side had just been humbled by the hoops as champions and bitter rivals Celtic annihilated them 5-1 just three days before welcoming Parma to Glasgow. Malesani made three changes to the side that lost to Cagliari at the weekend, Luigi Sartor, Mario Stanic and Abel Balbo all came in while Roberto Mussi and Enrico Chiesa missed out, Stefano Fiore had to do with a place on the bench. Despite the hostile home crowd, Parma got off to an excellent start, with Rangers still reeling from their weekend embarrassment. Hernan Crespo had the first real chance of the game after 14 minutes, but Antti Niemi kept the Argentine at bay. Moments later Crespo’s fellow countryman Juan Sebastian Veron fired over after being set up by Mario Stanic. It took the home side until the half hour mark to be of any threat to Gianluigi Buffon’s goal, when Andrei Kanchelskis fired wide from a Rod Wallace pass. As the half drew to a close Buffon was finally called upon as he comfortably kept out Ian Ferguson’s long-range effort. Dick Advocaat was looking for a second half reaction from his side, the Dutchman replaced the ineffective Jonatan Johansson with Gabriel Amato. The change seemed to spark some life into Rangers, as they started the brighter in the second half. Parma had Buffon to thank for keeping the scores level as he pushed away a Jorg Albertz thunderbolt. The expectant Ibrox crowd were soon silenced though as in the 51st minute Abel Balbo gave Parma the lead. Veron slipped a neat ball through to Crespo who’s shot was kept out by Niemi, but the rebound fell to Balbo to easily fire home from close range. Just moments later, Niemi was beaten again however Colin Hendry desperately recovered to keep out Crespo’s effort which would see the Scotsman collide with the post. Hendry recovered and was able to continue, with him playing a key role in the equaliser, his header from an Albertz cross was nodded down to Rod Wallace, with 20 minutes left the former Leeds United striker made no mistake in beating Buffon. Ibrox was rocking and Rangers could smell blood as they pressed for a winner. Soon after the equaliser Parma hearts were in their mouths as Gabriel Amato went down in the box after colliding with Luigi Sartor, the Parma defender was lucky to see French referee, Alain Sars wave play on though. Both teams had chances to win it at the death, Gordon Durie missed a golden opportunity to give Rangers a lead to take to Italy before Anti Niemi kept out Stefano Fiore in injury time to ensure the tie ended 1-1 and firmly in the balance before the return clash at the Tardini. Parma XI Buffon, Benarrivo, Sartor, Baggio, Crespo (86), Veron (69), Stanic, Boghossian, Cannavaro, Balbo, Thuram. Substitutes Guardelben, Pedros, Giunti, Sensini, Orlandini (86), Fiore (69), Vanoli. Alberto Malesani Rangers XI Niemi, Porrini (57), Amoruso, Numan, Ferguson, Kanchelskis, Albertz, Ferguson, Wallace, Johansson (46), Hendry. Substitutes Brown, Durie (57), Amato (46), Stensaas, Wilson, Vidman, Miller. Dick Advocaat
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