Rangers fans and players alike had only one man to thank at the end of Thursday night’s pulsating penalty shootout victory over Fenerbahce.
The Light Blues went into the tie holding a 3-1 aggregate lead over the Turkish giants after a fantastic performance in Istanbul last week.
But in typical Rangers fashion this season, they failed to follow up a great performance, as well losing yet another match at Ibrox – the fourth in a row now.
Fenerbahce were the better side as they won 2-0 on the night after 90 minutes. But that took the game to extra-time and then subsequently penalties.
Up stepped Jack Butland, however, to squeeze Rangers through to the quarter-finals of the Europa League having saved two of Fenerbahce’s penalties.
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Boyd and Sutton have their say on Jack Butland
Rangers fans serenaded Butland on social media after his late heroics having previously criticised him a fair few times this season.
Butland hasn’t been at his best this year – much like the rest of the first-team squad at Rangers – and hasn’t produced the form that earned him Player of the Year last season.
Speaking on The Warm-Up, Chris Sutton made note of that flak but praised the former Manchester United stopper for producing on a big night for Rangers.
Kris Boyd also had his say and thinks Butland would be the first to admit that this season, he hasn’t been stepping up to the levels he’s capable of.
However, the former Rangers striker said that over the course of the two legs, Butland was outstanding for the Ibrox side.
Boyd: “Jack Butland deserves enormous credit as well because – he misses the last one – but the two saves he made I thought were fantastic.
Sutton: “He’s taken a bit of flak, Butland, hasn’t he this season?”
Boyd: “He has. But I think if you sit down with Jack and speak to him about, I think he would be the first to say that because he’s set the standards so high.
“There has been some times this year where his performances or his standards have slipped a little bit. But even the first game and last night, I thought he was excellent.”
Sutton: “Yeah, I don’t think he’s been at his very best this season, but last night, a really big night. And fair play to Rangers over the two legs, got the job done in Turkey and in a brilliant position now.”
How Butland reacted to ‘special’ Rangers night vs Fenerbahce
Butland spoke to TNT Sports after his unbelievable performance between the sticks in the shootout and thinks Rangers can become ‘special’ on nights like those.
The Rangers goalkeeper said the squad was full of belief that they’d progress to the quarter-finals despite losing 2-0 on the night and he was delighted to give the fans something back.
He said: “When you’re playing in this place, when everything is on the line, it can go against you. But, boy, when this club is going like this, we are something special.
“I just wanted to put it on for the fans, to get it done. You can’t top this.
“We fully believed we were going to get the job done. We were brilliant first half. They scored a fantastic goal (Szymanski’s opener) but the boys dug in. And these is the rewards you get.
“Over the two legs, the effort we put in, we could have scored more. But I thought we deserved this.”
