Steven Gerrard’s Rangers needed a win against Rapid Wien on Thursday evening, to see them qualify for the next round of the Europa League.
The Scottish Premiership side may well consider themselves unfortunate, with Connor Goldson hitting the bar with a header, and James Tavernier, who had scored in the same fixture at Ibrox, seeing a shot well saved.
Prior to the match, most of the talk in the Vienna media had been about Rangers fans travelling to the city, with estimates ranging from 5000 to 12000.
After what had been a mainly peaceful day, Huete report there was trouble in front of the stadium with songs turning aggressive and then bottles being thrown, followed by ‘occasional brawls’.
After the match, the situation is described as ‘peaceful’, but Heute, a major daily newspaper in Austria, have pinpointed something which happened inside the stadium, negatively reporting on Rapid fans.
Home supporters displayed a selection of flags they’d earlier stolen from the travelling Rangers groups, in what Huete say in the ‘ultimate humiliation’ for fans.
It’s certainly not quite the end of the world, and it’s worth noting that Vienna’s police seem to have had a positive experience. They’ve been tweeting in English, and explaining how fans had been asking for photographs.
Their Twitter feed is full of positive messages like: ‘Shout out to the #bears and all football fans out there: we call it a night. Thanks for the good cooperation!’
Schnappschuss vom Corteo. Der verlief übrigens ohne nennenswerte Vorfälle. 👍
Many of our officers get asked by Rangers fans to pose for a photo – and we are happy to do it. Cheers m8! 📸 #SCRRFC pic.twitter.com/wOMGEWo0E8— POLIZEI WIEN (@LPDWien) December 13, 2018
