As the dust settles on Rangers’ victory over Borussia Dortmund in Germany, the comments of incoming BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl have somewhat stuck in the craw.
Rangers were deserved 2-4 winners at Signal Iduna Park in a historic evening for not just the Gers, but Scottish football as a whole.
But far from being a game won by way of sucker punch, the emphatic, controlled and disciplined nature of Rangers’ performance was in many ways more impressive than the scoreline.
Often the underdogs manage to sneak out of Europe’s top arenas with a slim victory but from a Rangers point of view, we were immense to a man and thoroughly deserving of the win.
If anything, we can be disappointed it didn’t end at least 4-1.
And yet, former Dortmund and Germany midfielder Sebastian Kehl had plenty to say about Dortmund’s shortcomings in the match.
Branding the result “embarrassing” and claiming that it “broke all of our hearts”, if you ask us Sebastian Kehl isn’t quite giving a rampant Rangers enough credit.
“We are very, very sober when it comes to the performance of the players. We sat on the bench and thought ‘why are we starting like this?’” said Kehl [Daily Record].
“Why don’t we realise how big this game is and how important it is?
Dortmund director Sebastian Kehl brands Rangers result “embarrassing”
“It broke all of our hearts. It was embarrassing.
“We have received a lot of justified criticism and the least we can do when we travel to Glasgow is produce a significantly improved performance.
“But the tie is not decided yet thanks to the abolition of the away goals rule.”
Borussia Dortmund may well have been the favourites, they might have even been without their star striker, but to fail to recognise Rangers’ contribution to the match is unfair and unbecoming.
It’s little wonder ex-manager Steven Gerrard highlighted this when asked about the result and claimed “I don’t buy into this, ‘Oh Dortmund weren’t at their best and never had Haaland and blah, blah, blah’. They were second best and Rangers certainly deserved their night” [Herald].
We were deserved winners in Germany and if we needed any more motivation to repeat the feat in Glasgow then comments of Sebastian Kehl wouldn’t look out of place on the dressing room wall.
Kehl was also speaking amid reports that himself and the other Borussia Dortmund directors held crisis talks regarding the future of Marco Rose after the humbling at the hands of Rangers.
Sky Sports made the claim after the match but Sebastian Kehl insists “that’s simply not true, I went straight home after the game”.
Speaking ahead of the clash with Dundee United, even rival Scottish Premiership managers are giving the Ibrox side appropriate credit.
