Steven Gerrard rued the absence of VAR after claiming Rangers were denied a “blatant” penalty before a last-gasp Young Boys winner saw them suffer a 2-1 defeat in their Europa League clash.
After a Roger Assale strike early in the second half had cancelled out Alfredo Morelos’ opener, Rangers had a strong penalty appeal waved away after Morelos was brought down in the box.
But the officials were unmoved and, soon after a sensational save from David Von Ballmoos prevented Morelos from putting Rangers 2-1 up in the 90th minute, they conceded in the third minute of stoppage time as Christian Fassnacht made the most of a James Tavernier error to send Gers home from Bern empty-handed.
All four teams in Group G now have three points.
Gerrard admitted his side only had themselves to blame for the goals they conceded but felt they should have been awarded a spot-kick before the added-time winner.
He said: “Football can be cruel at times. We’ve got ourselves to blame. I think we’ve gifted Young Boys a victory tonight.
“Big moments in the game have gone against us. I think if we had VAR tonight they would have had a second yellow with (Frederik) Sorensen because Alfredo gets a yellow card for exactly the same incident. So that never went for us.
“The keeper has made a world-class save at 1-1, we could have taken the lead from that.
“And we’ve not got a blatant penalty as well with Alfredo.
“The human eye should get that one right but the reason why VAR is coming into the game is just for situations like that so you can go back and check.
“I’ve seen the first view of it and it’s as blatant as you like. It’s a clear penalty at a very important time of the match.
“That could have been a massive turning point. But we have to take this on the chin, it is what it is, there is no VAR so there is no point moaning about it.
“But big decisions and big moments went against us tonight so it’s quite a stinging one.
“Then for their second goal, again, we haven’t been outplayed, we haven’t faced a moment of brilliance. We’ve gifted them a second goal.
“So we’ve shown naivety in terms of game management and individual errors have cost us.”
Young Boys boss Gerardo Seoane hailed his players after his injury-hit squad secured all three points.
He said: “First of all I would like to thank the team for the effort they had to overcome some obstacles in the last couple of weeks and today.
“The team were able to overcome these obstacles thanks to their mentality but also thanks to the fans who were a big support tonight.
“A draw could have been possible as well tonight but in the end we were luckier and I’m very grateful for that and thankful for the team.”
