Liam Kelly saves penalty as 10-man Rangers hold Athletic Bilbao at Ibrox

Liam Kelly was the penalty save hero as 10-man Rangers fought furiously to hold Athletic Bilbao to a goalless draw in an absorbing Europa League quarter-final tie at Ibrox.

Barry Ferguson made the big call to drop under-fire keeper Jack Butland for the Scotland international who sensationally saved a 79th minute spot-kick from substitute Alex Berenguer.

However, long before that – in the 13th minute – the former Gers captain watched defender Robin Propper sent off for a challenge on Inaki Williams, after originally being shown a yellow.

The home side valiantly held out against Ernesto Valverde’s side through 12 added minutes and have plenty to play for in the second leg in Spain next Thursday night – and Ferguson will be pleased with the attitude and application of his players.

Following the demoralising weekend defeat by Hibernian at Ibrox former Gers captain Ferguson promised to make big changes with two enforced as centre-back John Souttar and midfielder Mohamed Diomande were suspended.

Aside from dropping Butland, Ferguson also left out Jefte, Connor Barron and Hamza Igamane and brought in Propper, Leon Balogun and Ridvan Yilmaz, 18-year-old midfielder Bailey Rice – making only his second start – and attacker Ianis Hagi.

The strongly-fancied visitors had wingers Nico Williams and his brother Inaki Williams in their attack, but they too made a raft of changes with Spain midfielder Oihan Sancet returning from a thigh problem.

Rangers’ task, however, became increasingly difficult when they went down to 10 men so early in the game.

Propper brought down Inaki Williams with a rash tackle and Romania referee Istvan Kovacs initially gave a free-kick and a yellow card for the Dutchman then went to the pitch side monitor and upgraded to a red for denying the Athletic attacker a goalscoring opportunity.

As Valverde’s side stretched the Gers defence Yilmaz blocked an effort from Inaki Williams before Ferguson picked up a caution for a touchline infringement, after Hagi had been chopped down by Inigo Ruiz De Galarreta, also booked.

Kelly made good saves from Maroan Sannadi, who had put a couple of earlier efforts wide, and Sancet, before Nico Williams flashed a shot from 14 yards high over the bar.

Dessers also headed over just before the break but the Spanish side pressed hard at the start of the second half and Sannadi was booked for diving inside the Gers box, before he missed the target from six yards, a real let-off for the home side.

Just after the hour mark Rice was carried from the field on a stretcher with his neck in a brace after a lengthy spell of treatment.

When Kelly blocked a close-range shot from Gorka Guruzeta, the ball fell kindly to fellow substitute Berenguer who drove in from four yards.

However, a long VAR check eventually saw referee Kovacs go to check his monitor, disallow the goal for offside and award a penalty for handball against defender Dujon Sterling.

There was mass confusion inside the stadium then roars of delight from the Gers fans when Berenguer’s penalty struck the leg of Kelly and flew over the bar and the Gers keeper clutched the corner out the air.

The final stages saw Rangers dig deep into their reserves to keep dominant Athletic at bay and in added time Sterling was helped off to leave the home side with nine men as all the substitutes were used, but Rangers held out.