When Rangers play in Europe, they can’t have any passengers and Philippe Clement wasn’t let down by anyone in Light Blue.
James Tavernier had a difficult night but didn’t hide with the pairing of John Souttar and Robin Propper repelling everything that Malmo had to throw at them.
What the manager will have really been impressed with is his midfield as Connor Barron and Mohamed Diomande proved that they are a base on which this Rangers team can be built, with the £4.3m January signing particularly impressive.
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Mohamed Diomande proves Rangers fee worth every penny
There were a few questions asked after the Old Firm derby about whether the money spent on the Ivory Coast international was being justified but Diomande has already caught the eye of Barry Ferguson.
Against Malmo, he put those doubts to bed with an all-action, number eight display.
Clement has been making subtle tweaks to Rangers midfield.
Small adjustments involving Tom Lawrence’s positioning and Diomande playing closer to Barron have made the engine room much more compact.
Diomande and Barron dovetailed perfectly, however, it was the former’s individual numbers that were eye catching.
In and out of possession, Diomande was a monster.
Off the ball, he won nearly every tackle (3/4), every ground duel (6/9) and won his only competed header, according to Sofascore.
These numbers would be impressive enough but his possession statistics are off the scale.
With 94% pass completion, two chances created and 100% for both dribbling and crossing, Diomande put in his finest performance in Rangers colours.
Clement prediction starting to ring true
This is exactly the sort of level that Philippe Clement tipped Mohamed Diomande to reach shortly after signing for Rangers:
“He’s a high potential player, and I don’t think that Rangers will be his last step. No, I don’t think so, I’m sure.
“Of course, you need some luck with injuries in your career, but if he stays out of that, he’s going to make bigger steps because he has talents, but not only talent, but also the really right mentality to work for the team, to be very concentrated, to be very focused.
“And those are the things you’re looking for when you go in talks with players, you always can see what they can do on the pitch or what they are doing and what you think you can improve.
“But the most important thing is how people are ambitious to evolve themselves and how they want to take in information and work around that and is somebody with really high focus on those things.
“So it’s like a sponge [with] him. He will get better and better. The more information he gets, the more experience he gets, the better he will become.
“I think he can (reach the very top).”
Playing in Europe is how players like Diomande get noticed.
When Rangers had the ball, the 22-year old dominated proceedings, without it, he showed that he can role his sleeves up and do the dirty work too.
These are the qualities that teams higher up the food chain look at when scouting new players.
If Diomande keeps this level up, Clement is right, he won’t be at Rangers for long.
