Rangers and Barca draw

A resolute Rangers performance earned them a goalless draw at home to Barcelona on Tuesday, a result which keeps both sides in the driving seat for qualification to the Champions League knock-out stages.

Barcelona had demonstrated their fantastic footballing abilities straight from the kick-off, with Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Ronaldinho all showing some delightful skills in the middle of the pitch.

The closest either side came to breaking the deadlock came on 15 minutes when Ronaldinho was fouled by Charlie Adam 30 yards from goal and the Brazilian's dipping effort smashed off the cross bar before going out for a goal kick.

As the second half progressed Barcelona continued dominating possession.

However, with Ferguson, Kevin Thomson and Charlie Adam snapping at their heels in the middle of the pitch the Spanish side were struggling to maintain their earlier fluency.

Gudjohnsen forced McGregor into action again in the 54th minute but although the Rangers shot stopper spilled his low drive from 25 yards, he was never going to be beaten by the effort and gathered at the second attempt.

By the hour mark Barcelona began to look as if they were running out of ideas on how to break down the resolute Rangers rearguard - superbly marshalled by Cuellar and 37-year-old veteran centre-half David Weir.

With Lyon winning 2-0 in the other match against Stuttgart, the Glasgow side look closer to stepping into the last 16 of the Champions League.

Rangers defender Carlos Cuellar said after the game: "I'm very happy tonight. It was a great result and a very important one so we can all be pleased.

"We were under pressure a lot of the time but we managed to deal with it okay. We worked well defensively as a unit and managed to keep them out. We neutralised their threat.

"Maybe we even could have won the match. We had some chances, especially in the second half, but just couldn't find a goal. But we are happy with 0-0.

"We now have a great chance to go through. We knew if we got a point tonight we would be in a really good position.

"We will see what happens in the next round of games as that will be very important but we have given ourselves a real chance."