Rangers specialise in the remarkable as freakish misfortune costs them against bewildered Benfica – Keith Jackson's verdict

It's happened too often to be dismissed as some sort of fluke or freakish occurrence.

No, the truth of the matter is that every time Rangers pull out their passports for a Thursday night in Europe, something remarkable seems to follow almost inevitably. Last night in Lisbon they managed to cause further bewilderment to an already bruised Benfica side. The Portuguese really ought to have known what was likely to be done to them from the moment they were paired with Philippe Clement’s side in the last-16 draw.

Yes, Rangers went long spells in this first-leg tie without keeping the ball among themselves – as UEFA’s stats will show. And, true, they needed a keeper on the top of his game plus a colossal performance from little left-back Ridvan Yilmaz to get out of town with the 2-2 draw that keeps them in contention for a place in the quarter-finals.

There were countless scares along the way and, long before the end, this heart- pounding performance had become an emotionally exhausting affair almost as much as it was a test of physical resolve. But there is another way of looking at what went on in the Portuguese capital.

The one that says Benfica had to rely on another atrocity from VAR and a Connor Goldson own goal to scramble a draw on their patch, having had to come from behind not once but twice. The one that says that these things cannot possibly be happening by accident any more.

And the one that suggests Rangers might well be capable of riding this roller coaster for one more round at least. With so many of his wing men failing to even board the flight to Lisbon, Clement must surely have wrestled with the notion of ripping up his preferred formation.

Perhaps he could have even switched to five across the back in order to