On nights like this, Rangers beating Malmo 2-0 in their Europa League curtain-raiser, how on earth do you single out on player to receive the Man of the Match award?
Everyone – well, almost everyone – performed like a man possessed as Philippe Clement’s side stunned the Swedish giants on their own soil.
With the possible exception of Vaclav Cerny – underwhelming on the right-hand side and squandering a glorious chance to put the visitors 2-0 up in the first-half – this was a near faultless display from everyone in black. A real throwback to those glorious continental travails of the Steven Gerrard and early Giovanni van Bronckhorst eras.
Connor Barron continued his flying start to life at Rangers; channelling the spirit of his Ibrox predecessor and producing a tigerish European display Ryan Jack would have been proud of.
Rangers legend Ally McCoist lauded Neraysho Kasanwirjo as the right-footer stepped in excellently for a suspended Jefte Vital on the left. Meanwhile, coach Henrik Rydstrom admits Malmo could not deal with Cyriel Dessers’ physicality and hold-up play in the number nine role.
And it is testament to just how well Rangers performed, not only as individuals but as a team, that none of Barron, Kasanwirjo or even Dessers were singled out by Swedish publication Fotbollskanalen at full-time.
Rangers trio Mohammed Diomande, Robin Propper and John Souttar hailed
When highlighting the most impressive performers from the visitor’s ranks, Fotbollskanalen instead highlighted a much-improved Mohamded Diomande alongside the growing centre-back partnership of Robin Propper and John Souttar.
“Mohamed Diomande; Nice ball-carrier in the Rangers midfield, and took the fight in the second half,” they write, labelling the £4.5 million signing from Nordsjaelland the best player on the pitch following a performance of both poise and purpose.
“Hard to choose [who was better between Propper] and fellow centre-back John Souttar. The central lock did not offer much to Malmo’s attackers.”
Propper is delighted by his burgeoning understanding with Souttar in Rangers’ backline, hailing the in-form Scotland international as well as fellow summer signing Jefte earlier this month.
Rangers have now kept clean sheets in five of their last six games in all competitions.
Perhaps the biggest compliment that can be paid to a rock-solid Propper and Souttar is that Jack Butland – so often the Glasgow giants’ saviour on nights like this – barely had to get his gloves dirty between the sticks.
“In the first-half, [Malmo] were very lethargic,” Fotboll Direkt write in their own post-match post-morten. “And it was clear that they were cut after the early goal behind.
“They had difficulty finding the rhythm of the game and penetrating Rangers’ compact defence. Malmo had a lot of the ball, but did nothing meaningful with it and did not create dangerous chances at all.
“Rangers were secure in their defence and threatened Malmo seriously with their counter-attacks.”
- READ MORE: Rangers Europa League Record Since 2017
Philippe Clement lauds Rangers matchwinner Ross McCausland
The visitors took the lead on the night inside a minute. Dessers intercepted a misplaced back-pass from Malmo left-back Gabriel Busanello, rounded the goalkeeper and hit the post from the tightest of angles. Fortunately for the striker, Nedim Bajrami was following up.
After scoring the quickest ever goal in European Championship history for Albania against Italy over the summer, his was Bajrami’s second first-minute goal in a matter of months.
The aforementioned Cerny and Dessers himself then missed glorious one-on-one opportunities before substitute Ross McCausland finally put the game to bed with the sort of left-footed finish that would surely have been beyond the winger not so long ago.
“I don’t want to point out one player out of this game, but I’m going to do it because he’s quite a symbol about working hard and getting the reward,” Clement told reporters. “That’s Ross.
“Six months ago, if he came on his left foot, there was no quality in his shots or in his passes because he was not used to doing that. But he’s been working really hard every day with the staff together to get the right shots in.
“First post, second post, to look at the goalkeeper, to get the good technique, to get the good power.
“It’s a massive goal at that moment to kill off the game and to take even more control. It’s about hard work, repeating, repeating, making mistakes, but making it better, and that’s the way we’re going to keep on working with the whole squad together.
“But Ross is a symbol in that way because of the goal he scored.”
