Rattled Rangers suffer difficult defeat at hands of Club Brugge

At a glance

  • Three Club Brugge goals in first 20 minutes sparked fury inside Ibrox

  • Danilo scored early in second half for Rangers & Gassama effort ruled out

  • Huge task to overturn defeat in Belgium next Wednesday

  • PLAYER RATINGS

Jack Herrall
BBC Sport Scotland

A disastrous opening 20 minutes left Rangers' hopes of Champions League qualification hanging by a thread, as a clinical Club Brugge side tormented the hosts inside a seething Ibrox.

After a stuttering start to the season, the lure of Champions League riches offered potential salvation and credit in the bank for new head coach Russell Martin, who remains under scrutiny from many fans after an unconvincing start to the season.

Questions about Rangers' defensive frailties have lingered in recent weeks, and fans' worst fears were realised when three wretched early concessions left the Scottish Premiership shellshocked.

Danilo's second-half tap in gives them a slither of hope for next Wednesday's second leg in Belgium, but their performance levels would need to be hugely improved to give them any chance.

It took just three minutes for Ibrox to be stunned into first silence, then anger, when Nasser Djiga inexplicably failed to deal with a bouncing ball inside his half, allowing Romeo Vermant to race in and dinked over Jack Butland from 30 yards.

A Rangers side already low in confidence were rattled again after seven minutes, when a further lapse in concentration left Jorne Spileers unmarked to sweep in from a corner. The boos were amplified.

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Before this, Rangers had only trailed for a combined total of 26 minutes in four European matches, but found themselves three behind after 19 minutes and 11 seconds when Brandon Mechele's rasping strike fizzed past Butland.

It was three going on plenty more by the break as fury from the stands engulfed the players as they walked off.

Martin opted against making changes at the interval, and his loyalty was rewarded when on-loan debutant Jayden Meghoma slid in an enticing cross for Danilo to score his first goal in 14 hours of play.

Brugge's dominance dissipated as the game went on, but Rangers were unable to make their growing involvement count, with just one second-half shot on target.

Djeidi Gassama's thought he had bundled in another lifeline for the hosts late on, but it was ruled out after a VAR review, with goalkeeper Simon Mignolet judged to have two hands on the ball when the forward powered it over the line.

'Horrible' mix-up in Rangers defence gives Club Brugge lead

Rangers analysis: Defensive cracks are setting in

This was Martin's eighth competitive game in charge, with both previous European home legs against Panathinaikos and Viktoria Plzen their only clean sheets in that time.

Captain James Tavernier started on the bench, with three of the starting back four signed this summer. On-loan full-back Meghoma arrived at the start of this week.

Two goals were conceded against third-tier Alloa Athletic three days ago, with Brugge having seven shots on target despite only 16% of the game being played in their attacking final third, and having 36 final third entries to Rangers' 58.

Martin's side, regardless of the perceived quality of the opposition, can be got at. Teams will not fear playing a Rangers team like this; if anything, they'll fancy their chances at scoring one or two.

Defensive mistakes cannot always be solely put down to coaching instructions, but the lack of experience and familiarity in the defence needs rectifying if they are to compete on multiple fronts this campaign.

What they said

'The precursor to change is pain' - Martin

Rangers head coach Russell Martin: "We concede a crazy goal and don't respond to it anywhere near well enough. Then we concede out of anxiety and make decisions based on desperation. The game plan went out the window.

"When you're 2-0 down after seven minutes, tactics don't come into it. It's not about style of play it's about the reaction and we didn't react well to it.

"They all displayed courage in the second half. We recovered properly. I say we hurt them as much as they hurt us. The tie is still open. Now we're going to be the ones chasing and hunting."

Former Rangers striker Steven Thompson: "You can take positives because it could've been worse. They showed character, a lot of teams could have folded but they didn't do enough to go over there next week with a great deal of confidence.

"It was the worst possible start, they looked so incredibly hesitant, so nervy and until that goes away they are going to concede goals and give points away."

Former Rangers goalkeeper Alan McGregor: "Why does it take going behind to get the enthusiasm and start going forward. Why can't Rangers do that from the start?

"Rangers had 15 shots, one on target which was the goal. Is that good enough?"

What's next for these teams?

Rangers are at St Mirren on Sunday (12:00 BST), while Brugge do not play again until the return leg next Wednesday, as their domestic fixtures at the weekend against Westerlo has been postponed.

Where next?

Player of the match

R. Vermant
7.79
23 D. Gassama
4.43
47 M. Moore
4.08
1 J. Butland
4.02
30 J. Meghoma
3.88
29 H. Igamane
3.85
99 Danilo
3.79
43 N. Raskin
3.71
5 J. Souttar
3.70
2 J. Tavernier
3.60
18 O. Antman
3.58
3 M. Aarons
3.36
16 L. Cameron
3.35
11 T. Aasgaard
3.25
10 M. Diomandé
3.24
6 J. Rothwell
3.07
24 N. Djiga
2.88
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