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

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.

Then French-Algerian defender Hemdani, who reached the UEFA Cup Final with French side Marseille in 2004, struck from long range 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.

However, while the goal gives Rangers a lifeline ahead of their trip to Pamplona, it still did little to temper the anger of manager Walter Smith at the way his side under-performed.

"It's a strange emotion for me talking about that game as a 1-1 draw," said Smith, now in his second spell at Rangers after replacing Paul Le Guen in January.

"Even now it doesn't feel like we drew because it was a lot more than we deserved.

"That was easily the poorest performance we've had since I returned as manager of Rangers. The hardest thing to take is that we weren't just poor in one area of our game, we struggled with everything from possession, passing and pressure.

"Of course the result now gives us a chance. You always have to be optimistic because I would hope that we won't perform as badly as that again."

In stark contrast to Rangers poor showing, this was a clinical 90 minutes from an Osasuna side who have struggled to re-discover their form of last season, that saw them clinch their first ever Champions League qualifying spot.

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, though, 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 worse was to follow for Walter Smith's side when 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 the second began in much the same vein, with Jose Angel Ziganda's doing the pressing.

They almost scored again on the hour mark as Inaki Munoz was sent clear by David Lopez.

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 Osasuna defender Carlos 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.

However, Ricardo could do nothing to prevent Hemadani's late equaliser and the tie is still very much alive for both sides.