Leipzig snatch late victory over Rangers in UEFA Europa League

BERLIN - Angelino's last-gasp goal helped uninspired Leipzig secure a narrow 1-0 first leg win over Glasgow Rangers in Europa League's semifinals on Thursday.

The Red Bull started highly motivated on home soil and pressed Rangers onto the back foot from the starting whistle.

Leipzig dominated possession but lacked in ideas to overcome Rangers' well-positioned defense.

Hence the hosts had to take a goalless stalemate into the halftime as shots from Christopher Nkunku, Konrad Laimer and Angelino got blocked from promising positions in the first 30 minutes.

After the restart, Rangers started brightly and created the first clear-cut chance of the game in the 49th minute when Ryan Kent danced through Leipzig's defense before pulling wide from a tight angle.

Leipzig responded well four minutes later after Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor had to palm away Nkunku's hammer from 17 meters.

The hosts handed over control but produced better opportunities and Leipzig should have opened the scoring in the 70th minute but Nkunku couldn't find the empty goal after rounding McGregor following a through ball from Dominik Szoboszlai.

Rangers kept it bowling and countered in the 78th minute as Kent tested Leipzig custodian Peter Gulacsi from the edge of the box.

The goal was scored at the other end of the pitch as Rangers cleared a corner into the path of Angelino, who volleyed the ball past McGregor into the bottom left corner in the 85th minute.

With the result, Leipzig take a narrow 1-0 advantage into the second leg at Ibrox next Thursday.

"It's only 1-0. We know that at 1-0 going back to Ibrox we are still in it. We are going to be at it from the first whistle," said Rangers' captain James Tavernier.

"Glasgow Rangers had a clear game plan and made life hard, but we got the result we wanted. We know it's only half-time in tie and we need to maintain our focus and performance for the return leg," said Leipzig midfielder Tyler Adams.