Gabri Martinez denied Rangers their first Europa League win this season as they earned 10-man Braga a 1-1 draw at Ibrox.
James Tavernier had put Rangers 1–0 ahead but Braga responded well to Rodrigo Zalazar’s send-off to rescue a point.
Jack Butland was called into action twice to deny Ricardo Horta early. He got fingertips on his first, low attempt, before rushing off his line to smother the second moments later.
Rangers escaped early pressure and broke through after Fran Navarro was penalized for a handball at the end of the first half. Tavernier caught Lukas Hornicek with a stuttering run-up and picked out the bottom right corner.
Djeidi Gassama saw a heavy effort from Hornicek pushed away just before the hour mark, when Rangers were given an extra boost when Zalazar was shown a straight red card for poking his head towards Nicolas Raskin.
However, it was Braga who had the final say as an unmarked Martinez latched onto Nasser Djiga’s poor clearance attempt and fired into the bottom left corner in the 69th minute.
Butland then denied Amine El Ouazzani and Victor Gomez in the 90th and 91st minutes to secure a first point of the European campaign for Rangers, who also saw Mohamed Diomande sent off in the 95th minute for a second bookable offence.
Full time at Ibrox.
It ends in a draw against Braga.
Rangers 1 – 1 SC Braga | #UEL pic.twitter.com/dqtLGZizpa
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) November 27, 2025
Data Debrief: Chance goes begging for Rangers
Rangers are no longer top of the table in the Europa League, but Danny Rohl will believe they should have walked away with more.
The hosts had twelve attempts but generated just 1.63 expected goals (xG), much of which came from Tavernier’s penalty.
Half of those Rangers tries came after the red card and Braga’s goal, but Carlos Vicens’ side still showed the greater threat, finishing with 1.7 xG, and had three shots on target after the break, one fewer than their opponents, despite their numerical disadvantage.
However, they did end the rot, having lost each of their previous seven European matches at the start of Thursday, and did not extend their worst-ever losing streak.
#Rangers #Braga #Martinez #denies #hosting #Europa #League #win #Soccer #News