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Socceroos keeper Ryan stars in ECL win

3 minute read

FC Copenhagen, with Socceroos keeper Maty Ryan making his club debut, were 2-1 winners in their Champions League play-off match while Rangers drew with PSV.

MAT RYAN.
MAT RYAN. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Socceroos goalkeeper Maty Ryan has made his FC Copenhagen debut and helped his new club to within 90 minutes of a place in the lucrative UEFA Champions League group stage.

Ryan, who recently joined from Real Sociedad in Spain, was forced to make two important saves in the 2-1 first-leg play-off win over Turkish champions Trabzonspor.

The Australian No.1 moved to Denmark for more game time ahead of the Qatar World Cup later this year and wasn't called into action until the second half.

The hosts were two-up thanks to Viktor Claesson and Lukas Lerager strikes, before Ryan was beaten by a wicked deflection from a 79th-minute free kick.

Elsewhere, Bodoe/Glimt were 1-0 winners over Croatia's Dinamo Zagreb in Norway and Rangers played out a pulsating 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven in Glasgow.

Gers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst was in the opposition dugout to former Netherlands teammate Ruud van Nistelrooy at Ibrox and it was the visitors who took the lead in the 37th minute when Ibrahim Sangare drove in following a corner.

However, Antonio Colak levelled three minutes later with a smart finish, the Croatia striker scoring for the fourth game in a row.

An absorbing tie continued after the break and a bad mistake in the 69th minute from PSV goalkeeper Walter Benitez allowed Tom Lawrence's free kick to cross the line.

However, PSV defender Armando Obispo headed in an equaliser with 12 minutes remaining.

The return game is at Philips Stadion in Eindhoven next week and the pendulum may have swung towards the Dutch side. But Rangers will believe they can still qualify for the Champions League for the first time since the 2010-11 season.

"In football, everything is possible. We have a good result," Colak told BT Sport.

"It's 2-2, it's a good result for next week. If we win we're going through and this is always our target.

"We'll go with confidence, the coaches will prepare us. We want to go through. Yeah it was a tough game of course but I think there's big, big hope for the second game."

With PA.

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