Rangers star Ianis Hagi has slammed his team’s mentality in their disappointing 1-1 Europa League Group A draw with Brondby on Thursday evening [BT Sport].
The Gers didn’t manage to take the momentum from their 6-1 weekend hammering of Motherwell with them to Denmark and they went 1-0 down on the stroke of half-time through a Leon Balogun own goal.
It was only after Steven Gerrard made a triple substitution that Rangers looked like getting something from the game and two of the subs combined to earn a point, with Ryan Kent setting up Hagi.
The Romania international was sent out to be interviewed by BT Sport after the game and he was clearly furious with the result and the performance.
“I think our mentality should have been better from the beginning,” he said. “We’re Rangers and we have to come here and try to win, not wait for the second half to go out there and attack. At least we took that point but now we need to win the next two games.”
When asked about why, unlike last season, Rangers are consistently conceding the first goal in matches, he again referenced poor mentality.
“To be fair, I don’t want to talk about last season. This season is a new season, we’re in three competitions, and as I said, it’s about the mentality of winning.
“When we step out onto the pitch, we need to have the mentality of winning. We don’t have to wait for the opposition to score and then go out there and win.
“From now on, I just hope that we score first. To be fair, the team reacted really well and we came back so you have to give us some credit but we know we’re Rangers and we’re going to do better.”
It was a good post-match interview from Hagi, who was clearly frustrated with his teammates and no doubt disappointed that he wasn’t included in the starting XI.
The Gers remain third in Group A, but crucially, they still have a chance to qualify, with a big fixture against Sparta Prague at Ibrox up next.
In other news, Rangers have received a commercial boost via a new partnership with an ‘innovative’ brand.
