PERHAPS instead of giving UEFA a Christmas card this year Rangers should send them an invoice for £8million.
Why referee Wolfgang Stark chose not to play advantage as Nacho Novo hared in on goal after 41 minutes before finishing with some aplomb will in all likelihood remain a mystery but the ramifications for Rangers will resound for the remainder of the season.
A second-half strike from CSKA’s £5million forward Vagner Love left Rangers with an uphill fight on their hands and despite a late cavalier charge following Steven Thompson’s late equaliser McLeish’s side were unable to find the goal that would have taken the tie to extra time.
Their dreams of another crack at the Champions League shattered, McLeish and his squad must now console themselves with entry into the UEFA Cup First Round draw on Friday.
At this moment in time it seems like little consolation.
With so much at stake, McLeish had chosen to gamble with his starting 11, lining them up in an attack-minded 4-4-2 formation that gave Shota Arveladze and Peter Lovenkrands license to attack freely down the flanks.
Denied the services of Rae due to suspension, Dragan Mladenovic was handed his first start alongside Stephen Hughes in midfield while former skipper Craig Moore was recalled in the heart of the defence following the end of his Olympic adventure in Athens.
Given how tightly-balanced the tie was after the opening leg in Moscow a fortnight ago, this was a surprisingly open contest as play moved swiftly from end to end.
Rangers, as expected of the team chasing the result, were allowed plenty of time and possession but found it difficult to break down a compact CSKA defence who in turn utilised the dangerous forward pairing of Ivica Olic and Love to break forward whenever a Rangers move broke down.
Missing the natural width and creativity of Chris Burke, the Light Blues were struggling to convert their dominance into scoring chances giving 18 year-old goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev very little to do.
He was admittedly left stranded after 18 minutes when Dado Prso neatly nodded down Fernando Ricksen’s pinpoint cross but when the ball fell kindly for Peter Lovenkrands he slashed wildly at it, sending his shot soaring high above the goal.
The tension was audibly growing all around Ibrox with every passing minute and the nerves were further shredded when a slack Ricksen clearance fell kindly for Love in the Rangers penalty area.
Moore reacted well to take the sting out of the Brazilian’s shot allowing Stefan Klos the chance to dive on the deflected effort to keep the scores blank.
The main talking point of the first half, however, was to take place just four minutes before the interval when Rangers had a goal disallowed.
Novo was the unfortunate protagonist of the piece, wriggling past a series of illicit challenges before striking a venomous drive that bulleted past Akinfeev.
It was a goal worthy of winning any match and yet referee Stark chose instead to award Rangers a free kick outside the box for an earlier infringement.
His decision was met with howls of disapproval all the way to the half-time whistle where he was hounded all the way up the tunnel by a fuming Jan Wouters.
Grateful for the let-off, CSKA emerged buoyant after the break and signalled their intent on 52 minutes when Love whistled a fierce drive narrowly by the post.
Worse was to follow on the hour mark. Olic’s precice pass allowed Jiri Jarosik to reach the by-line and his cross was bundled past Klos by Love from a matter of yards to give the visitors the lead.
Ibrox, aside from a small pocket of Russian supporters, was stunned into silence and the agony was heightened just two minutes later when Akinfeev pulled off a spectacular stop to keep out a well-struck Mladenovic drive from the edge of the penalty area.
Needing two goals now just to take the tie to extra-time, McLeish threw on another striker – Thompson for the disappointing Lovenkrands – but it was the Russians who were next to threaten again as Love tested Klos with a sharp effort that the keeper did well to keep out.
Rangers were forced into abandoing their hitherto cautious approach in place of a more gung-ho attacking style with the outcome that CSKA were increasingly exploiting holes at the back through the pace of Olic and Love.
The Croatian was enjoying acres of room in the Rangers penalty area and only another superb point-blank save from Klos kept his side in the game.
With time running out, McLeish threw on Marvin Andrews as an emergency forward and with just four minutes remaining the Trinidadian nodded Boumsong’s long ball on to Thompson who slid a low shot past Akinfeev.
Handed a late lifeline, Rangers poured forward in an attempt to take the match to extra time and only another fantastic block from the goalkeeper kept out a blistering free kick from Gregory Vignal, with Andrews slicing the rebound wide.
It was to be Rangers’ last chance of the match as their Champions League dreams petered out.
RANGERS (4-4-2): 1 Klos; 2 Ricksen, 4 Boumsong, 3 Moore, 24 Vignal; 7 Arveladze, 14 Mladenovic (Andrews 80), 27 Hughes, 26 Lovenkrands (Thompson 62); 9 Prso, 10 Novo
Subs not used: Smith, Malcolm, Vanoli, Khizanishvili, Ross
Booked: Novo (69)
CSKA MOSCOW (3-5-2): 35 Akinfeev; 4 Ignashevich, 2 Semberas, 6 A Berezutskiy; 15 Odiah, 25 Rahimic, 22 Aldonin, 20 Jarosik, 18 Zhirkov; 9 Olic (Semak 76), 11 Vagner Love
Subs not used: Mandrikin, Gusev, Ferreira, Kiritchenko, Laisans, V Berezutskiy
Booked: Odiah (67), Semak (84)
Man of the Match: Jean-Alain Boumsong