Rangers 5 - 1 Yanbu (374269165)

23700 spectators arrived at Gulf Ibrox, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Martino Brambillia was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Håkan Gustavsson and Federico Angellotti. Rangers had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Mozhayskiy - Khatib, Burdet, Fuentes - Nadal, Carlés, Haj-Saleh, Corman, Cigala - Haddad, Haj-Akil.

Yanbu tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Henríquez - Breitling, Marica, Terra - Coutin, Arizmendi López, Bonù, Dabanovič, Sillanpää - Volmer, Criscione.

Yanbu clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. Rangers took the lead after 13 minutes as a result of A. Fuentes's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 1 - 0. After 14 minutes, Rangers's A. Mozhayskiy fell awkwardly, but was determined to stay in the match. That's the spirit! H. Corman increased the lead for Rangers to 2 - 0, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! G. Haj-Akil struck a 30 metre free kick home 30 minutes into the match. 3 - 0 for the home team. The crowd roared its approval when A. Mozhayskiy somehow managed to block a shot which seemed to be a certain goal by Yanbu's L. Arizmendi López 40 minutes into the game. A great save by keeper E. Henríquez after 41 minutes kept the visitors in the game after F. Haj-Saleh struck from the left with a real cannonball. It was 3 - 0 at the break. Possession in this half belonged to Rangers, who controlled the ball 61 percent of the time.

Rangers's A. Haddad swung in a good chance from the left, but the visitors' defence were able to clear the ball. With 73 minutes showing on the scoreboard clock, Yanbu showed some good skill and were able to reduce the score to 3 - 1 when V. Sillanpää got past the home side's central defenders right in front of the goal. After 74 minutes, Rangers sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. In what looked like a well-rehearsed move, the ball was headed backwards and reached A. Haddad, who had plenty of space to place a well aimed shot - 4 - 1. After 84 minutes, Rangers's G. Haj-Akil found the back of the goal with a beautiful free kick. 5 - 1. By now, the players in Rangers felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Rangers, with 60 percent of the ball.

Most important Rangers player was H. Corman. On the other hand, S. Burdet's play was disheartening. Yanbu's best player was M. Criscione. However, E. Henríquez made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 5 - 1.