Smith never stopped believing Gers could strike back

RANGERS boss Walter Smith maintained he never felt his team were out of the running in their UEFA Cup tie despite relying on Nacho Novo’s dramatic 81st-minute equaliser to secure an away goals victory over Panathinaikos in Athens last night.

Spanish striker Novo pounced on a loose ball to slot home the precious goal which hardly seemed likely after Ioannis Goumos had given the Greeks the advantage with a thunderous first-half strike from long range.

Smith said: As the game went on I felt that we would get something.

“We were always in the tie at 1-0 down. Our keeper Alan McGregor made some good saves in the first half but as the game went on I felt that if we kept going then chances would come and that proved to be the case.”

PANATHINAIKOS: Galinovic, Vyntra, Morris, Goumas, Nilsson (Papadopoulos 86), Mattos, Karagounis, Tziolis (Gonzalez 83), Ivanschitz, Postiga (Ndoye 62), Salpigidis.

RANGERS: McGregor, Broadfoot, Papac (Dailly 66), Weir, Cuellar, Novo, Ferguson, Hemdani (Burke 69), Davis, Adam (Naismith 66), Boyd.

Referee: Felix Brych (Germany).

Bayern Munich 5 Aberdeen 1

By Ben Gladwell

ABERDEEN manager Jimmy Calderwood felt the 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich which ended his team’s UEFA Cup dreams last night flattered the German side.

Goals from Lucio, Daniel van Buyten, Mark van Bommel and a brace from Lukas Podolski allowed the Bavarians progress into the last 16. A consolation from Steve Lovell was all Aberdeen managed. Said Calderwood: “I don’t think we deserved to lose 5-1.”

BAYERN MUNICH: Kahn, Sagnol, Lucio, Van Buyten, Jansen, Altintop (Schweinsteiger 75), Ottl, Van Bommel, Kroos (Sosa 69), Toni (Klose 65), Podolski.

ABERDEEN: Langfield, Maybury, Diamond, Considine, Foster, Nicholson, Aluko (Lovell 79), Severin, Walker (Maguire 62), Mackie (De Visscher 72), Miller.

Referee: Robert Malek (Poland).