The Light Blues huffed and puffed against the well-organised Russian Premier League side but could find no way through on the night to leave them with five points from their opening three matches in the Europa League group stage.
In the build-up to the game, manager Steven Gerrard had called on his players to ‘ignite’ the Ibrox support with a performance similar to the one they delivered here against Rapid Vienna three weeks ago.
But to begin with anyway, the crowd didn’t need the players’ help as they created a deafening atmosphere in the build-up to kick-off, and to that, the players responded early-on with a bright start.
With plenty of possession in the Spartak half, it was clear Gerrard’s message to his men was for a high-tempo beginning to the match, and while they enjoyed much of the play, chances were at premium.
In the 23rd minute, a superb run from Daniel Candeias, aided with a nice one-two with Alfredo Morelos, put him into the right corner of the box. But it appeared the Portuguese was caught in two minds, and neither shot for the top corner or picked-out the incoming Lassana Coulibaly at the back post.
As half-time approached, Gers were still pressuring without much joy in front of goal as Spartak kept things tight, and a Ryan Kent shot from distance was about the best they could muster before the whistle.
At the start of the second half, a huge clearing header from Connor Goldson in midfield gave Morelos a glimmer of hope as the ball found him to the right of goal, but from that acute angle, he could find only the gloves of goalkeeper Aleksandr Maksimenko.
Spartak were beginning, however, to show more of an attacking threat, and a well-worked move ended when half-time sub Sofiane Hanni played the ball behind Lorenzo Melgarejo, with the latter well-stationed in the six-yard box for a certain tap-in.
The game was still struggling to come to life, but a flurry of activity from the home side just past the hour mark forced Maksimenko into a smart stop firstly from Morelos and then Ovie Ejaria.
Morelos then did superbly to spin away from Georgi Dzhikiya to play a super ball across the face of goal, but the incoming Lassana Coulibaly couldn’t quite connect at the back post.
More good play from Morelos and James Tavernier caused havoc for Spartak when the Colombian’s ball into the middle was spilled by Maksimenko and was just inches away from being connected to by Eros Grezda who had just come on.
Spartak’s best chance of the match came from Mikhail Ignatov after he made a superb run from deep to just inside the penalty box, but his final effort screeched just wide of Allan McGregor’s upright.
Ryan Kent darted between two Spartak defenders to enter the opposition box soon afterwards, and after Eros Grezda was felled under what looked to be a legal challenge, the ball broke to James Tavernier on the edge of the box for him to fire just over the bar.
Kent was almost the architect of a winner when he killed a cross field ball from Glenn Middleton and squared if for the onrushing Grezda, but the substitute’s effort flew over the top meaning it was a share of the spoils with the sides set to meet again in a fortnight in Moscow.
RANGERS: McGregor; Tavernier, Goldson, Worrall, Flanagan; Jack (Grezda, 67), Coulibaly, Ejaria; Kent, Candeias (Middleton, 86), Morelos.
SUBS NOT USED: Foderingham, Halliday, McCrorie, Katic, Lafferty.
SPARTAK MOSCOW: Maksimenko, Ze Luis, Fernando, Dzhikiya, Bocchetti, Ignatov (Popov, 84), Melgarejo, Lomovitski (Eremenko, 45), Zobnin, Tashaev (Hanni, 45), Rasskazov.
SUBS NOT USED: Rebrov, Petkovic, Kutepov, Timofeev.
REFEREE: Kevin Blom
ATTENDANCE: 49, 068.