Rangers winger Rabbi Matondo has been hailed by pundit Kris Boyd following his impact against PSV Eindhoven.
The Gers had to step it up against PSV on Tuesday night after some rather disappointing displays in recent weeks.
This was mostly better but Rangers had to go through plenty of work without the ball.
If we’re being honest, Abdallah Sima struggled in the first half before bending a beautiful strike into the top corner.
Ibrahim Sangare levelled it up for PSV before substitute Rabbi Matondo send Ibrox wild with a superb finish from Cyriel Dessers’ pass.
That would have been a memorable winner but Luuk de Jong again hauled PSV level, meaning it’s all finely poised for the second leg in Eindhoven next week.
MORE RANGERS STORIES
Maybe Matondo will grab a start in that game? The Welshman certainly isn’t doing himself any harm right now.
Rabbi Matondo earns praise after Rangers impact
Matondo almost seemed finished at Rangers over the summer.
The Gers paid £2.5million to sign Matondo from Schalke last summer after shining on loan at Cercle Brugge.
Once a highly-regarded talent at Manchester City, Matondo had lost his way a little and headed to Rangers in the hope of getting back on track.
That didn’t really happen last summer as Matondo failed to really show any kind of consistency.
Matondo has been linked away from Ibrox this summer but he is suddenly showing promising signs.
The 22-year-old came off the bench against PSV and caused problems from the very first second he entered the game.
Matondo showed dangerous dribbling as he drifted past PSV players for a potential solo goal before being stopped.
Matondo then rifled home a superb finish and almost won it late on with an unbelievable volley which just rose over the bar.
Rangers fans are suddenly seen Matondo make a real impact and are hoping that he can keep up this kind of form consistently.
Matondo has now been hailed by former Rangers striker and current pundit Kris Boyd, who was covering last night’s game for Sky Sports.
Boyd suggested that Matondo may have the freedom to step up his game a little now Ryan Kent – almost one of the first names on the team sheet – has left Rangers.
Boyd praised Matondo’s improvement in recent weeks and believes that his blistering pace gives Rangers a real threat moving forward, even backing him to start against PSV next week.
“With that pace he’s got, he was lightning,” said Boyd. “We’ve not seen it enough in a Rangers jersey but you just kind of get the feeling that, the last few weeks… maybe because of Ryan Kent before, he always kind of thought ‘I’m not going to get in the team’, but with Ryan Kent moving on and there’s not really been anybody cemented that place at this moment at time, and there’s one thing with Rabbi Matondo – he has got blistering pace.”
“We’ve seen that there, he had another terrific effort from the edge of the box, a corner kick came back out and he took it on the volley, it just went over the bar He’s forced his way into it, he wasn’t even in the European squad for the last tie, he wasn’t in it at the start of the week as well but he’s managed to find his way into the squad to start with, and he’s came on and had an impact in the game, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s one that starts next week as well,” he added.