Ianis Hagi scored a 96th-minute equaliser as 10-player Rangers delayed Celtic from clinching the Scottish Premiership title with a dramatic 2-2 draw at Aberdeen.
Celtic were seconds away from becoming champions for a fourth consecutive season until Hagi’s superb strike rescued Barry Ferguson’s much-changed side, who came back from two goals behind.
Celtic will have the chance to win the league on the weekend of April 26/27 once the split fixtures have been released.
Rangers had made nine changes ahead of their Europa League quarter-final second leg against Athletic Club and were well below par in the first half.
Leighton Clarkson netted a brilliant free-kick which caught out goalkeeper Liam Kelly to give Aberdeen the lead before Ross McCausland was shown a second yellow card for a rash sliding tackle.
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Ross McCausland receives a second yellow card for his challenge on Aberdeen’s Topi Keskinen.
Pape Gueye then added to Rangers’ first-half misery, slotting home from inside the box for Aberdeen’s second after Shayden Morris had charged past Findlay Curtis before pulling the ball back.
Rangers thought they had scored in added time although the ball had run out of play before Hamza Igamane turned it home but he did pull one back four minutes after the break when he fired into the bottom right corner.
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Leighton Clarkson’s superb free-kick opens the scoring for Aberdeen against Rangers.
Aberdeen should have wrapped up the points as Nisbet fired wide when well-positioned in the box before he then had a late goal ruled out by the VAR for handball.
It proved to be a significant moment as deep into added time, Cyriel Dessers’ shot hit the right post before Hagi’s stunning strike.
Ferguson: I’m never happy with a point
Rangers manager Barry Ferguson told Sky Sports:
“Good comeback. It’s a recurring theme getting men sent off. I spoke to Ross (McCausland), you can’t be making mistakes like that when you’re on the booking. He had a couple of tackles, maybe I should have made the decision to substitute him.
“They took on instructions. I changed it at half-time with personnel. I had to get midfielders in who were used to playing that way.
“I’m never happy with a point but under the circumstances we have to take it.”
Hagi: Full focus is on Thursday
Rangers midfielder Ianis Hagi told Sky Sports:
“Coming back from 2-0 down with 10 men, it says a lot about how much we wanted to come here and win.
“The full focus now is on Thursday. We want to go through, we have to, we want to give something back to the fans.
“Thursday is so, so important for us to give something back to our fans, get into the next round, and finish this season on a high.”
On his Rangers future, he added: “I never said I wanted to leave Rangers. I just want to make that clear. I am happy to be here, and I will do anything for this club.”
