3 minute read
29/4/2022 | 08:35am
Rangers suffered late heartbreak in the Europa League on Thursday night as they lost 1-0 in the first-leg of their semi-final clash.
Gio van Bronckhorst’s men traveled away from Ibrox and set-up to make it difficult for their opponents and they did exactly that as they limited the opposition to one big opportunity.
The best chance of the match fell to Christopher Nkunku and the Frenchman somehow managed to fire the ball high and wide with the goal at his mercy after dribbling past Allan McGregor inside the box.
Leipzig then found the winning goal from half a chance, at best, as Angelino fired in a volley on the full from the edge of the box in the final 10 minutes.
Will Rangers make it through this tie?
yes
vote
No
vote
As part of the defensive, counter-attacking, set-up, van Bronckhorst opted for pace at the top end of the pitch with a front two of Ryan Kent and Scott Wright. It was the latter’s second start in the Europa League this season and his performance explained why he has been rarely used throughout the campaign as he let the head coach down badly.
The Scot was given a huge opportunity to prove that he can play a big role in winning major silverware for Rangers this season and failed to make the most of it. He struggled on and off the ball as he looked uncomfortable playing as a makeshift centre-forward alongside Kent.
Out of possession, he did very little. As per SofaScore, he lost four of his seven individual duels and 100% of his aerial battles. He made zero clearances, blocks and interceptions and completed one tackle in the match as he did little to help out his teammates on the defensive side of the game.
On the ball, he offered almost nothing. He had fewer touches (31) than Allan McGregor (41) and lost possession 15 times. He also completed just eight of his 16 attempted passes (50%) and did not create a single chance or register a shot on target in 69 minutes on the pitch as he was unable to cause the Leipzig defense many problems to deal with.
Overall, Wright did not do enough at both sides of the game and van Bronckhorst will surely be feeling let down by the attacker’s display. This performance may force the Dutch coach to consider whether he is the right choice to start at Ibrox in the second leg next week.
AND in other news, Wilson masterclass: Rangers must brutally ax 26 y/o dud who’s an “all-round shambles”…
