Rangers twice surrendered the lead to draw the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie against Benfica 2-2.

Philippe Clement’s squad was hit by injuries but returning midfielder Tom Lawrence gave the visitors a dramatic early lead with a header before Angel Di Maria levelled with a penalty kick in first-half added time after VAR intervened to highlight that Gers defender John Souttar had used his arm inside the box.

Light Blues’ utility player Dujon Sterling restored the lead in the fifth of five minutes of added time with his first career goal only for Gers defender Connor Goldson to head into his own goal midway through the second half to take the tie back to Glasgow next Thursday night level.

Much of the pre-match talk was around Clement’s limited options in attack. He was without the services of four injured wingers – Abdallah Sima, Scott Wright, Rabbi Matondo and Oscar Cortes – albeit the latter is not in the European squad. With Ross McCausland only fit to start on the bench, it meant no natural width in attack.

Portuguese attacker Fabio Silva, who spent two seasons with Benfica as a youth player, supported main striker Cyriel Dessers from the left with Sterling working off the right.

Under-pressure home boss Roger Schmidt was looking for his side to bounce back from their 5-0 thrashing by title rivals Porto at the weekend and he had a host of big names in the starting line-up including Argentina World Cup winners Nicolas Otamendi and Di Maria.

Around 3,500 Rangers fans were in position to see Gers goalkeeper Jack Butland make an early save at his near post from David Neres’ drive.

And moments later they were off their seats cheering when Silva sent Mohamed Diomande free inside the box and he lifted the ball for the in-rushing Lawrence to head down past diving keeper Anatoliy Trubin.

Butland then made a double save, first from Neres and then from striker Arthur Cabral from the loose ball, albeit his effort had been partially blocked by Souttar.

However, after VAR Marco Fritz intervened following another Benfica corner, the Gers defender was adjudged by referee German referee Tobias Stieler to have hit the ball with his arm as he defended the delivery and Di María sent Butland the wrong way with his assured penalty.

There was more first-half drama to come in the final minute of the five added when Sterling, signed from Chelsea in the summer, stole in to convert a deflected Silva cross from close range, with a VAR check confirming his landmark goal.

Both sides went for more goals from the start of the second half, with Cabral heading wide at the back post from a Rafa Silva cross before Trubin blocked a Silva effort at the other end.

However, Benfica were level again in the 67th minute when Di Maria floated in a free-kick from 35 yards and Goldson stretched to clear but only sent it past Butland.

The home side sensed a winner was there for them and Di Maria somehow missed the target from 12 yards.

In the 77th minute Kemar Roofe, Ryan Jack and Cole McKinnon took over from Dessers, Lawrence and Sterling but Benfica’s steady pressure continued to the final whistle.

The return game promises more thrills and spills but Rangers will look to complete the job in Govan.

Boss Philippe Clement claimed Ross McCausland was “kicked off the pitch” in the 2-1 defeat by Motherwell which dented Rangers’ cinch Premiership title hopes.

With the visitors leading through a Theo Bair strike, the Northern Ireland winger had to be replaced by Fabio Silva in the 35th minute after he was caught by Dan Casey after the Fir Park defender won a tackle.

Gers skipper James Tavernier scored from the spot on the hour but Casey’s 74th-minute header gave the Steelmen their first league win at Ibrox since 1997.

It was a first defeat in 12 games for Rangers and although they remain two points clear of Celtic at the top of the table, the Parkhead side get the chance to leapfrog them at Hearts on Sunday.

Clement confirmed beforehand that Oscar Cortes, on loan from Lens, would be out for “a long time” following the muscle injury picked up against Kilmarnock in midweek, with fellow wide-men Abdallah Sima and Rabbi Matondo also out.

The Gers boss said: “Ross is bad because he was kicked off the pitch. There was no foul, no yellow card, no red card.

“When I see how we’ve got red cards in the last few months – then I see this action – I don’t understand it to be honest.

“There is too much intensity. When you have to take a player off in the first-half because he can’t walk any more after contact, you need to realise something bad happened there. But clearly not.

“I didn’t think about the fact the same player scored the winning goal.

“I only think about the chances we had to score. I only think about my team and making it better.”

The Belgian boss would not directly say that Casey should have been red carded by referee Alan Muir, adding: “I am not a referee. And I know every word I say becomes a big thing always.

“I think players need to be better protected. We have now already several players kicked off the pitch this season. I think they need to be protected in a better way.”

It was the first points dropped at home by Clement since taking over from Michael Beale in October and he is expecting a positive reaction.

He said: “That’s the interesting thing now. I didn’t expect to have this moment after five months in the building. I thought it would be much earlier.

“Now I’ll get to know my team even better. I know them really well already. But now I’m going to see who’s going to be the guys to stand up after a disappointment.

“I don’t doubt it too much. They are very disappointed and a lot of heads are down. I’m disappointed too, not to get the three points.

“But you need to cope with it, take the right lessons and learn from it to become better. That’s our ambition now.”

Stuart Kettlewell was delighted with Motherwell’s performance but puzzled by Clement’s assessment of McCausland.

He said: “Everybody has got their own opinion. I don’t see it as kicked off the pitch as such.

“I’ve not seen a replay of the incident but at the time it was very close to me and Dan Casey looked 60-40 favourite, or maybe even more than that, to come through and get the ball.

“At the time I wasn’t seeing anything. The referee doesn’t even book him so it doesn’t look as if there was a foul. He was first man to the ball clearly so I’m a wee bit surprised [by Clement’s comments].”

On his side’s shock victory, the Well boss said: “We were asked plenty of questions, we were put under the cosh.

“We had to go into what I call emergency defending in the dying embers. We know that you are going to have to go through all that to get something here – you are going to have to suffer. Of that there is no question.

“When you come here that idea of just sitting in is never going to work. You need to carry a threat on the other side. That is what pleases me most.”

Fabio Silva wants Rangers to keep the winning bandwagon rolling after closing in on cinch Premiership leaders Celtic with a comprehensive 3-0 home win over bottom side Livingston on Saturday.

The Portuguese striker, who arrived in Glasgow from Wolves on loan last month, opened his Gers account after 40 minutes when he pounced on a loose ball inside the box to slam the ball past Livi keeper Shamal George.

Winger Rabbi Matondo added a second before the break with a deflected strike from distance and midfielder Todd Cantwell knocked in a Ross McCausland cut-back on 56 minutes to take Rangers to within three points of Celtic with a game in hand.

The Viaplay Cup winners also have the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup in their sights and welcome Ayr United to Ibrox next Saturday.

Rangers have won five in a row since the turn of the year and ahead of the visit of Aberdeen on Tuesday night, Silva told RangersTV: “It was amazing, the most important thing was the victory.

“We have had good results and it is important we continue with these with good moments.

“Everyone is involved in this and doing everything for Rangers to win titles in the final part of the season.

“The most important thing was the victory and the clean sheet and of course I am very happy to score my first goal because it is important.

“It was a little bit different for me because I played against three big centre-backs and it was a bit difficult to move.

“I like to move so they held me, but it was nice to be aware in the box, to feel when the ball comes and after I scored, I was very happy.

“Starting with me and finishing on Jack Butland we did a brilliant job in defensive and offensive, so the most important thing is the winning and now we have to prepare for the next game.”

Livingston have now gone 16 league games without a win and boss David Martindale, who saw his side come back twice at home to second bottom Ross County last Tuesday night to draw 2-2, looked for context after failing to trouble Gers keeper Butland.

He said: “There is a big difference between Ross County at Livingston and Rangers at Ibrox. You could probably go back 20 games and there would be about three shots on target.

“You are going there and you are trying to pose an attacking threat, but you’d need to be expansive and open up to create chances.

“But we have lost sloppy goals recently and I felt the last thing we needed was to go there and focus on posing more of an attacking threat.

“The game plan was to get in 0-0 at half-time, see out the next 15 minutes and then change the shape and personnel.

“But it’s difficult to make sure your defensive shape is bang on while also posing an attacking threat.”

Rangers have announced the loan signing of Portuguese forward Fabio Silva from Wolves until the end of the season.

Silva is set to join Rangers from January 1, subject to international clearance, and will become the first new arrival under manager Philippe Clement.

After joining Wolves from Porto in the summer of 2020 for what was then a club-record fee in the region of £35.6million, Silva had loan spells at both Anderlecht and PSV Eindhoven last season.

Silva, 21, has made more than 60 Premier League appearances, the last coming as a late substitute in the defeat at Sheffield United on November 4.

“I am very happy, when I spoke to people about Glasgow and about Rangers, everyone told me good things about the club and the history,” Silva said on the Rangers website.

“I played here once with Porto in the Europa League, so I already know the warm club, the environment and the stadium, so everything is perfect.

“I am very happy to be here, and I can’t wait to start training with the team.”

Clement is confident Silva can make an impact at Ibrox.

“He is a highly rated striker and it is fantastic to have him joining our squad for the remainder of the season,” the Rangers boss said.

“He is a young player who already has some great experience in his career in both England and in Europe. I am looking forward to working with him moving forward.”

Wolves sporting director Matt Hobbs feels Silva will benefit from the move to Scotland.

“This is a simple one – Fabio needs to play,” Hobbs said on the Wolves website.

“He is not getting enough opportunities here, so it’s a chance to go out and score goals and we’ll look at the future in the summer.

“Rangers don’t have a buying option, but hopefully he plays and scores goals and we’ll see where we’re at in the summer.”