Rangers’ season continues, just, with the Europa League providing a degree of respite from what has been a dour and disappointing domestic season.
Two wins over Celtic in the Old Firm derby have been the highlight, however, they won the one that mattered most in the Premier Sports Cup final.
On that occasion, penalties and an outrageous VAR call on Vaclav Cerny were the difference with Philippe Clement coming in for criticism for his management of the spot-kicks.
The whole Rangers squad took penalties during the week and they were ranked in accordance with how well they had performed.
Seeing Ridvan Yilmaz and Jack Butland take penalties before Rangers’ No.9 Cyriel Dessers just didn’t add up, especially when you consider that he had taken them – and scored – for club and country in the last 12 months.
Vaclav Cerny reveals secrets to Rangers’ Europa League success
Barry Ferguson has taken an entirely different approach as Rangers manager, rather than dictating who should take penalties against Fenerbahce, he put the onus on the players.
Speaking ahead of his country’s international fixtures, Cerny gave a fascinating insight into what went on behind the scenes, via iSport:
“We didn’t have a list of five shooters given in advance, the coach left it entirely up to us. The captain (James Tavernier) takes the penalties when he’s on the field, so he went first.
“I jumped in right after him, saying I had a lot of confidence in myself. On the other hand – who else but him and possibly me as the team’s top scorer. At that moment you need to stand up, when you feel like it, why not.”
Rangers didn’t need to go past number four on the list due to a mixture of Jack Butland’s heroics and Fenerbahce players not handling the pressure of the Ibrox atmosphere, but there wasn’t much depth outside those who were successful.
Who would have been up next for Rangers?
Ianis Hagi was unlucky to see the keeper go the right way for his effort despite being a competent penalty take with both feet.
Tom Lawrence is also an experienced professional from the spot and would have been confident of scoring.
The two most likely names would have been Nedim Bajrami and Hamza Igamane, although Butland’s kick at Hampden was as good as anyones.
Ridvan Yilmaz might have been hiding at the back of the queue though, not that it would have been hard for him.
