Rangers fans have praised Filip Helander for a strong showing in the Europa League defeat to Bayer Leverkusen.
The Gers lost 1-0 in the behind-closed-doors second leg in Germany, ensuring Leverkusen advance to the quarter-finals to face Inter Milan, courtesy of a 4-1 aggregate scoreline.
There weren’t too many standout individuals in white, with Rangers outclassed on the night.
However, Filip Helander can certainly be proud of his efforts after a prolonged period on the sidelines.
The 27-year-old hadn’t made a competitive appearance since sustaining a foot injury in the League Cup final defeat to Celtic in December 2019 and missed the majority of pre-season due to a knock.
He was picked ahead of George Edmundson for this high-profile European tie, though, and he performed admirably.
Kai Havertz had some joy in the first half running off Helander and Barisic as the Gers back four struggled to cope with the pace and movement of the opposition’s attackers.
The Swedish international did plenty of good work inside his own box, though, making an excellent block from a Florian Wirtz shot in the first half and looking solid in the air when defending crosses and set-pieces.
It was an impressive display after so long out of the game and he received plenty of plaudits from Bears on social media.
Here’s a selection of reactions from Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Wallis819/status/1291453707025100800
https://twitter.com/Pandy297/status/1291448188902289409
https://twitter.com/rossd1506/status/1291448004734525445
https://twitter.com/dottyRFC/status/1291446991885611014
While you’re here, why not check out three things we learned from the game.
