European round-up

Sports editor Mark Atkinson rounds up a busy night of European action for Hearts and Rangers.

Transcript

00:00Good evening from the Scotsman's sports desk after a pretty exhilarating night of European

00:08football involving two of our teams, Rangers and Hearts. Let's start at Ibrox in the 8pm

00:15kick-off, the Battle of Britain between Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League.

00:20It finished one apiece after a really entertaining first half in Glasgow in which Rangers were

00:25the better team. They took the lead two minutes in the second half through the man at the moment,

00:29Hamza Iqbali, with a sweet finish after a great pass by James Tavernier. In all honesty,

00:35Rangers would go on and win this game against Spurs, who looked a bit bedraggled under Ange

00:40Postakoglu, who was back in Glasgow, of course, where he was an excellent Celtic manager. To be

00:46fair though to him and his players, they regrouped and Postakoglu's substitution made a big difference.

00:52It was Dejan Kuliskevski, one of the guys that came off the bench, netting later in the match,

00:58linking well with Dominic Solanke, a fellow substitute, sliding an expert finish past

01:02goalkeeper Jack Butland. Rangers could have won it at the end when Cyril Dessler showed a great bit

01:08of skill, the fashion, a one-on-one chance with Fraser Forster, but another Celtic man in the big

01:13Spurs keeper made a quite brilliant save. He was in really good form actually to make sure that

01:17Rangers weren't going to take all three points from this match, but they remain ahead of Spurs

01:23in the Europa League and are handily placed for qualification of games against Manchester United

01:28and Union St Gilles to come in January. It wasn't quite the same positive story earlier in the night

01:35for a Scottish team in the Conference League. That was Hearts, who lost 2-0 at FC Copenhagen.

01:42The Jambos were a clear second best for the majority of the encounter in the Danish capital.

01:46While Craig Gordon, their goalkeeper, played very well, their resistance was punctured

01:51by a goal by Ciadi, the Algerian youngster scoring just to the second half, and then they

01:57were given a penalty controversially when the same player, Ciadi, was brought down by Craig Gordon.

02:04I have to say that the call was the wrong one. It went to VAR. Gordon clearly got a touch on the

02:09ball, but the referee, Andrea Colombo, awarded the spot kick, which was coolly converted by Kevin

02:15Dixon. That made sure that Copenhagen won, and they go above Hearts in the table. But the Jambos

02:19now, going into next week's final round of league matches, really need to get a win over Petro Cup

02:25to ensure their place in the top 24 and European football beyond Christmas for the first time since

02:30the 1988-89 season. They're back in action next week. Ranged will have to wait until January,

02:39but there could be a chance that both teams progress into the knockout phases after a really

02:44eventful night of European football. We'll have all the reaction and comment analysis

02:49on scotsman.com for tonight and tomorrow.