Cyriel Dessers was a menace to the Fenerbahce defence, scoring one, providing an assist, and seeing two goals disallowed as Rangers left Istanbul with a 3-1 win over Jose Mourinho’s side in a Europa League Round of 16 first leg match on Thursday night.
The Nigerian striker pounced on a defensive lapse to put Rangers ahead after only six minutes, before he combined with Vaclav Cerny who restored the visitors’ lead just before half-time after Alexander Djiku had equalised for the Turkish giants.
Dessers was denied a second goal on two occasions by VAR, ruling him offside by the slightest of margins as he pounced on the rebound after a Nico Raskin shot was parried to his path by the Fenerbahce goalkeeper just five minutes into the second half.
He was found offside again seven minutes later as Rangers continued to find spaces behind the Fenerbahce backline, with the Turkish side also going for a goal desperately as they had Edin Dzeko, Youssef En-Nesyri, Dusan Tadic, Allan Saint-Maximin and Anderson Talisca on the field at the same time.
En-Nesyri came close twice for Fenerbahce, while Talisca, a January signing from Al Nassr, sent a weak header straight at Jack Butland as the clock wound down.
Rangers would finally get the third goal VAR had twice denied them, with Raskin and Dessers combining to set up Cerny, who latched on to the through ball and slotted into the bottom corner and seal the win with 10 minutes to go.
Elsewhere, nine-man Lazio came away from Czech Republic with a dramatic 2-1 win over Vitoria Plzen. The hosts thought they had taken the lead early on but saw the goal chalked off for offside after a VAR review.
Lazio responded within minutes by taking the lead to Alessio Romagnoli who snuck in at the back post to beat a Plzen defender to the ball from a corner-kick and head the Italian side ahead.
Rafiu Durosimi equalised for Plzen in the second half when he met Lukas Kalvach’s free-kick with a strong header. The night got worse for the visitors when Nicolo Rovella was sent off in the closing stages.
Lazio were then reduced to nine men four minutes into stoppage time when Samuel Gigot got his marching orders. And just when it looked like both teams would settle for a draw, Gustav Isaksen struck in the 98th minute to spark wild celebrations on the Lazio bench.
In Amsterdam, Eintracht Frankfurt came from a goal down to claim a 2-1 win over Ajax. Brian Brobbey put the Dutch side ahead, but soon found himself on the wrong end as a shot from Hugo Larsson deflected off him for Frankfurt’s equaliser in the 27th minute.
Ellyes Shkiri won it for the Bundesliga side as he tapped in from close range with 20 minutes to go, giving the visitors a solid advantage heading into next week’s return leg in Germany.