Jack Butland has thanked his short loan spell at Manchester United for saving Fred’s penalty in the Rangers vs Fenerbahce penalty shootout at Ibrox.
Butland spent the end of the 2022/23 season at Old Trafford having signed on loan from fellow Premier League side Crystal Palace as cover.
The Rangers goalkeeper is a boyhood United supporter, so signing was a dream come true. But he failed to make his debut for the club and had to sit on the bench the whole time.
Butland was teammates with Brazilian midfielder Fred at the Red Devils before the stopper returned to Crystal Palace and then signed for Rangers.
Fred moved to Fenerbahce under his former United manager Jose Mourinho and Rangers being drawn with the Turkish giants in the Europa League set up a reunion with him and Butland.
Jack Butland’s Man Utd stint with Fred proved to be crucial for Rangers
With the aggregate score locked at 3-3 after 210 minutes of football across two last 16 legs, the tie went to a penalty shootout.
Butland was the hero on the night, with the match-winning save denying Fred, his old Carrington buddy. And the Gers goalie admits because of his experience of practicing penalties at United with the Brazilian, it stood him in good stead to save his Fenerbahce spot-kick in Govan.
Speaking on Fozcast – The Ben Foster Podcast, Butland recalled: “For me, the feeling of saving a penalty is amazing, no one expects you to (save one). And then in the shootout, save the first one, and then Fred. I just knew what he was going to do.
“I don’t know, you have those feelings sometimes, sometimes you feel like you know what they’re going to do and they do the complete opposite. But I looked at him…
“In the six months I had at United, we must have practiced penalties for the competitions we were in at the time every day for three months.
“So I had faced him (Fred) a million times and he does that stutter to the side, run up and the minute he did it, I knew I had him, I knew what was coming.
Foster then asked if Butland thought Fred was also aware of the penalty shootout practice at United. He replied: “I don’t know, I didn’t have a chance to ask him afterwards, and he was probably not in the best of moods.
“I saw him in the line-up, we went past each other in the line-up. I didn’t expect him to remember me. I trained there, we had some laughs in training or whatever, but I didn’t expect him to go ‘ah it’s Jack from 18 months ago’ – I didn’t expect that.
“But I saw him in the line-up and he sort of remembered. I don’t know if it jogged his memory remembering my face or whatever. But it came back to me in the shootout, it jogged my memory as well.
“I’ve faced him, maybe he’s had a little think about it, maybe he hasn’t. But he did the same (penalty) routine he did 18 months ago when we were practicing.
“And he pushed it and it was one of those, nice height, and the minute it left his boot, I knew I had it. It was perfect, it couldn’t have gone any better that night.”
But Butland could go from Europa League hero to zero
Butland may have been the 10/10 hero against Fenerbahce at Ibrox, but in the weeks since, he’s found it difficult between the sticks for Rangers.
In the last two Premiership games, Butland has made two awful errors that both led to goals, the worst on Saturday as Hibs won 2-0 in Govan.
Dylan Levitt’s strike squirmed under Butland after only eight minutes to set Hibs on their way to a deserved victory – and it could be costly for the ex-United goalkeeper.
The Butland vs Liam Kelly debate has raged in the lead up to tonight’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Athletic Club, with many pundits having their say.
Kris Boyd has backed Kelly, while Richard Foster also wants to see Kelly given the gloves at Ibrox this evening.
Meanwhile, Ally McCoist thinks Butland’s Rangers career could be finished if Barry Ferguson decides to drop him to the bench against the La Liga outfit.
