GLASGOW (AFP) - Brahim Hemdani kept himself on course for a second UEFA Cup Final appearance here on Wednesday as he rescued Rangers from the jaws of a damaging home defeat to Osasuna with an injury-time equaliser.

Rangers looked to be heading for their first home European defeat in nine games after a first-half strike from Spain under-21 international Raul Garcia.

However, French-Algerian defender Hemdani, who reached the 2004 UEFA Cup final with French side Marseille struck deep into injury time to leave the tie finely poised at 1-1.

That sent the large majority of the 50,290 crowd home happy and also ensured that not one of seven Spanish sides who starred in Europe this week managed a win.

With key former Serbian international striker Savo Milosevic ruled out with injury, Osasuna were largely expected to sit in, soak up the pressure and try to hit their hosts on the counter-attack.

Currently 13th in La Liga, Osasuna have failed to recapture the form of last season but with some short, sharp passing and clever movement here, they took the game to Rangers and it quickly became a matter of when and not if they would get the first goal.

Spanish defender Carlos Cuellar posted the first warning to Rangers on seven minutes as, unmarked inside the penalty box, he got a clear header on a Moreno Lopez cross to force Stefan Klos to scramble across his goal to save.

Klos, who had been recalled for only his second match in eleven months because of a two-game suspension to Allan McGregor, had no chance of stopping the next chance on 17 minutes.

This time it was Gomez Juanlu's curling cross that caused confusion amongst the Scottish defence, with Garcia directing a header into the bottom corner of the net.

It was the first home goal Rangers have conceded in Europe in 376 minutes, and one that could prove crucial for Osasuna in the return leg on March 14.

Worse was to follow for Walter Smith's side when in 29 minutes Rangers captain Barry Ferguson was booked for elbowing Javed Nekounam, a caution that rules him out of next week's trip to Pamplona.

Rangers created no clear cut chances in the opening period and it was no surprise to see Charlie Adam being replaced by Nacho Novo after the break as the Glasgow side tried to rescue the tie.

Yet for much of the half it was Jose Angel Ziganda's side that looked the more likely to score as they continued to press for the second away goal.

They almost got it on the hour mark as Inaki Munoz was sent clear by David Lopez on the hour mark. Munoz ran into the penalty box but his low right foot drive was superbly dealt with by Klos.

That save sparked Rangers into life as finally they began to threaten Ricardo's goal.

Firstly Novo went on a superb darting run to the goal-line before sending a flashing ball across the face of goal with Cuellar almost slicing the ball into his own net.

Then from the resultant corner the ball broke to Kevin Thomson, some 20 metres from goal, with the Scotland international midfielder forcing Ricardo to parry the ball wide with a stunning one-handed stop.

At the other end Klos was keeping Rangers in with a chance of progressing by re-discovering some of the form that saw him steer Borussia Dortmund to Champions League success in 1997.

An instinctive low stop saw him again deny Munoz on 80 minutes as the Spaniards failed to underline their superiority with a killer second strike.

However, a minute into injury-time Hemadani salvaged a draw for Rangers when he curled a long range drive past Ricardo to make it 1-1 after the first leg.