VfB Stuttgart 1 Rangers 1 – Bougherra conjures up unlikely point to leave Ibrox men sitting pretty in Champions League

Even more unbelievably, Jens Lehmann, Stuttgart’s ­veteran goalkeeper, had to roll back the years to deny Steven Naismith a late winner, while Steven Davis slapped a post as Stuttgart’s nerve disintegrated.

Yet, for 45 monotonous minutes, Rangers seemed to be bereft of ideas against a slick Stuttgart side. Pavel Pogrebnyak’s goal after 17 minutes threatened to initiate a landslide victory for Markus Babbel’s side but a sequence of unfathomable events turned this tie on its head.

The result leaves Rangers sitting pretty with successive home ties against Sevilla and Unirea Urziceni to look forward to. At one stage, the Champions League had looked like an endurance test for the Scottish champions.

It can only be assumed that some industrial language and clear instruction from the manager at the interval was the catalyst for Rangers’ unrecognisable re-emergence. ­Suddenly, they possessed purpose and even a little flair. Jerome Rothen suffered some ribbing for a pedestrian debut at the weekend but the artistry of the Frenchman’s passing became a prominent feature in Rangers’ recovery. He may suffer from an arthritic gait but, boy, can he plop a pass. He teed up Naismith and Sasa Papac with the kind of ­chances a striker would have feasted on but for this shift, Kenny Miller had more menial duties to attend to.

For large swathes of a lopsided first half, Rangers looked every bit the kind of fodder dispatched with ease in the early qualifying rounds. Smith’s conservative European template spared his team a more brutal beating but also provided a foundation for a remarkable recovery. So, too, did the handiwork of Allan McGregor. He stood ­resolute amid the early onslaught and ensured Rangers had a chance of what had seemed unthinkable.

Rangers’ problems were simple enough to identify but not so easily remedied. In this regard, Smith worked wonders. Until he herded them in at the break, they were thoughtless and pedestrian on the rare occasion they attacked, vulnerable and leaden-footed in their invariably desperate defending and mired in midfield drudgery.

The plight of Kevin Thomson was particularly ­unsightly until he suffered a minor knock. Smith had no option but to play the midfielder after David Weir’s withdrawal through injury plunged Lee McCulloch into auxiliary mode but the manager did so with justifiable trepidation. An ignominious 13-minute ­outing against Hearts, in which he was swiftly sent off, was no preparation for the ­Champions League and certainly not against the white wave of VfB Stuttgart.

The wandering Cacau and stealthy Sami Khedira were too quick in mind and body for the put-upon holding midfielder and his struggle created a greater problem for the makeshift defence, since McCulloch and Bougherra were left with no option but to be dragged around the pitch in forlorn pursuit. The defence eventually solved the ­puzzle and Bougherra recovered from a sloppy introduction to complete a quite astounding turnaround.

Miller, as the lone Rangers striker, was so detached from proceedings he would have been as well helping the builders behind the flattened east stand of the stadium.

Even Rangers’ most creative influences were quickly overshadowed by the machine-like qualities of the Stuttgart mannschaft. Pedro Mendes was given the honour of leading out the team but the ­Portuguese remains an enigmatic influence to Rangers. At times, the former Champions League winner looks totally disconnected from the mainframe and here he resembled an expert archer with not a single target to aim for until a combination of ­Rangers collective improvement and Stuttgart’s inexplicable regression gave him room to manoeuvre.

It made a welcome change to the curious default of ­lobbing high balls to an equally befuddled Naismith; a most unlikely target man for club and country.

Then there is Rothen. The lapsed French internationalist could well prove Smith’s most infuriating signing yet. Utterly unable to keep up with the pace of the game, he has retained a sublime and unerring eye for a pass. Much like Mendes, his greatest – perhaps even his only – quality had appeared obsolete until the dramatic switch in flow.

The sight of Aleksandr Hleb swaggering about seemingly unencumbered by a ­muscle problem compounded Smith’s defensive issues but as the Belarussian’s influence waned, so, too, did Stuttgart’s threat.

Rangers, rather ominously, were plunged into reverse gear from the off. Cacau required only 44 seconds to announce his presence, the naturalised German of Brazilian birth launching the first attack of an unremitting bombardment. McGregor was able to turn the shot wide but his night would get progressively less enjoyable.

Hleb, Pogrebnyak and Cacau appeared to take turns at tormenting Rangers’ ­fragile defence but it was the ­Russian who confirmed Stuttgart’s superiority. Thomson was guilty of panicky naivete, heading back to Papac despite the presence of three white jerseys swarming the Bosnian. His attempted clearance banged off Cacau whose cutback was feasted on by the strapping Pogrebnyak, who cushioned a right-foot shot past McGregor.

It was a minor miracle that Rangers survived until the break without conceding further but it gave Smith an ­unexpected opportunity to compose his team and salvage the situation in the second half.

Moments of endeavour were so fleeting for Rangers that it spooked their players. Rothen dispatched a lovely cross that evaded the entire Stuttgart defence yet was rewarded with what can only be described as a clearing header from a stunned Papac.

Naismith spurned a subsequent beauty from Rothen and, suddenly, Rangers carried some weight. Bougherra linked-up with Rothen and the stadium fell into silence when the defender slotted adroitly past Lehmann. ­Naismith and Davis could have signalled a more spectacular comeback but that would have been pushing it.