Preparation for a huge week of football started the moment the referee blew the full-time whistle on Rangers against Dundee.
Real Betis will be up next followed by an early chance for Philippe Clement to win silverware as the Gers boss looks to maintain his impressive start to life in the Ibrox hotseat.
There will be a few question marks in terms of selection but who put their hands up and who didn’t do themselves any favours as Rangers took on Dundee?
Rangers v Dundee – player ratings
Jack Butland – 7
Helpless for the opening goal and dealt with everything that he had to with his usual composure and assurance other than one pass out to John Souttar that could have been punished.
James Tavernier – 7
Much more like his old self linking play on the right-hand side and unlucky with an audacious effort that came off the crossbar in the first-half.
Borna Barisic – 7
Plenty of running down the left flank but needed to offer more than just hitting early crosses, looked much better when he got up and supported Abdallah Sima and overlapped.
John Souttar – 6
A few shaky moments and distribution from the back wasn’t as effective as it normally is, that he rarely stepped into midfield shows what type of game he had.
Leon Balogun – 7
The better of the two centre-halves and spent most of the game sweeping up long balls from the Dundee back line.
John Lundstram – 5
Culpable for Dundee’s opener and gave the ball away in midfield far too many times, failed to capitalise in good attacking positions too.
Worst performance since Clement arrived.
Jose Cifuentes – 3
Quiet first-half ended in controversy when Kevin Clancy, with the help of VAR, sent him off for a late tackle.
It was a tackle he didn’t need to make with his team 3-1 up at the time and put them under unnecessary pressure.
Todd Cantwell – 7
Unlucky to have a wonderful solo goal chalked off and was involved in a lot of Rangers good play, made way for the more defence minded Dujon Sterling in a reshuffle.
Rabbi Matondo – 6
Inconsistent but grew into the first-half as the game went on as he found his rythm.
Abdallah Sima – 8
The Rangers forward was a constant threat to the Dundee defence and often created something when nothing was on, took his header brilliantly.
Pay the money.
Cyriel Dessers – 8
Finally looked like the £4.5m player that we thought we were signing.
Linked play well, held the ball up and took his goal well, much more like it from the Nigeria international but should have added a second before being replaced.
Substitutes
Ross McCausland – 8
Continues to impress for Rangers and should have got himself on the score sheet against Dundee, a willing runner and ball carrier.
Dujon Sterling – 4
It’s safe to say that we won’t see Sterling in midfield again. Not Philippe Clement’s best decision.
Hit the post with a long range effort and covered a lot of ground but isn’t a central midfielder.
Kemar Roofe – 6
Added composure after Cyriel Dessers tired
Leon King – 5
On too late to make an impact.
