Rangers captain James Tavernier has been included alongside other ‘star performers’ in the UEFA Europa League Team of the Week and is now the top-ranked defender in the competition.
The 28-year-old has been in outstanding form this season and he produced the goods once again on Thursday night in Belgium.
Tavernier scored the crucial opening goal from the penalty spot in the first half and contributed to a clean sheet as the Gers secured a deserved 2-0 win over Standard Liege.
The skipper has been deadly from 12 yards since returning to penalty duty but he has also been extremely influential from open play and could have bagged an assist at the Stade Maurice Dufrasne, had Alfredo Morelos not been so off-colour in front of goal.
The spot-kick and the clean sheet were enough to see him included at right-back in the Team of the Week, though, alongside the likes of Arsenal’s David Luiz and Karim Bellarabi of Bayer Leverkusen.
Tavernier’s performance also saw him move to ninth in the Europa League player rankings, making him the second-highest ranked English player behind Harry Kane (4).
Most impressively, though, the Gers captain is now the top-ranked defender playing in the competition, ahead of Sven Botman of Lille and Andoni Gorosabel of Real Sociedad [UEFA].
Tavernier will no doubt be delighted that his strong displays are earning recognition.
Mark Warburton brought the full-back to Ibrox from Wigan Athletic for the bargain fee of £200k in 2015 and he has since gone on to make over 250 appearances for the club.
He has taken his own game up a notch recently but he knows that his Rangers career will be judged on trophies won, so securing major silverware remains the focus this season above personal accolades.
