You could have heard a pin drop as Rangers silenced the roar of the Olympiakos crowd in Piraues, Cyriel Dessers converting brilliantly to add another Europa League point to the collection.
Away from home at the reigning Conference League champions – as flares turned the Greek sky a deep shade of blood red – this was not an occasin for the faint-hearted.
But the manner in which Vaclav Cerny and Cyriel Dessers combined to cancel out Ayoub El Kaabi’s opener just after the hour mark was, in a sense, typical of a Rangers side who again saved their best stuff for European action.
A commanding, cultured and composed goal. A commanding, cultured and composed performance too, in one of the continent’s most febrile stadiums. Rangers walked into the lion’s den and walked out again with barely a scratch on their skin.
And Jose Luis Mendilibar – who coached Sevilla to Europa League glory before masterminding Olympiakos’ triumph over Fiorentina six months ago – accepts that a point was the least Philippe Clement’s team deserved.
Olympiakos boss admits Rangers were the ‘better’ team
“We think the opponent was better than us,” a gracious Mendilibar told reporters at full-time.
“We had the chances to win the match. [But] after the game ended and you see the overall picture, the opponent was better.”
Mendilibar highlighted the ‘special’ Cerny as Rangers’ dangerman pre-match, while warning his Olympiakos side to be wary of their fast turnovers and direct play.
As the Glasgow giants forced a mistake in the centre of the park, allowing Cerny to thread a fine through ball into Dessers’ path, Mendilibar could have been wondering if he had delivered those pre-match messages not to his players but straight at the nearest brick wall.
“The truth is, we had our doubts about the way Rangers were playing,” the former Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna coach adds. “That is where they dominated; With a more direct style of play, they were winning the duels.
“They won the second balls, and that made them stronger than us.
“The good thing is that we got a point from a game where the opponent was better. The bad thing is that we could have claimed something more. We have seven points, and it is what we deserve.”
- READ MORE: Europa League 2024/25 New Format Explained
Philippe Clement raves about Nicolas Raskin and Connor Barron again
Clement also highlighted Rangers’ aggression and their front-footedness post-match, with Nicolas Raskin and Connor Barron outstanding in the Europa League and not for the first time. The ever-pugnacious midfield duo completed a combined 13 successful tackles between them.
Rangers have arguably not had a central partnership as complementary as Barron and Raskin – bringing combativeness as well as control – since Steven Davis and Ryan Jack were going head-to-head with some of Europe’s strongest sides.
“Nico is growing,” Clement smiled in his post-match presser. “[We now have] two young guys with a lot of energy who are still learning details of the game. But they are really hungry to learn, and we did a lot of video sessions in the last couple of weeks.
“They take really good steps forward. They both played a massive game for me. And [Mohamed Diomande] also, in his role that he had.
“So, it was important against them to have control of the midfield because, otherwise, you always lose the game against Olympiacos.”
