By Alistair Aird
It was Matchday 5 in the Europa League, and the stakes were high. With both Rangers and Sparta Prague locked on four points and only separated by virtue of the Czech side’s win on Matchday 2, an away win would take Rangers out of contention for a place in the knockout stages. For the home side, a two-goal win would seal European football after Christmas, something that has become a regular feature on the fixture list in the past few seasons. A draw would leave it all to play for on Matchday 6, with Rangers due to travel to Lyon and Sparta going to Denmark on 9 December.
The previous encounter had been played in front of a ‘select few’ in Prague, some of whom decided it would be prudent to direct racial abuse at Glenn Kamara. That left a bitter taste and provided an extra edge to this game. And that most likely explains the cacophony of boos that greeted the Sparta players when they took to the pitch.
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There was a smattering of visiting fans present – 35 in total – and they were in a boisterous mood as their team came out for the warm up. When the Rangers team emerged, there were shouts of encouragement from the small band of fans who were braving the cold to take their seats some thirty minutes before kick off. You knew, though, that come 8pm there would be a cauldron of noise when the teams exited the tunnel. European nights are always like that, but there was a sense of anticipation in the air as a new era dawned. The battle fever was well and truly on.
In his first selection as the Rangers manager, Giovanni van Bronckhorst made two changes from the XI that started the game on Sunday. Leon Balogun and Scott Arfield made way for Calvin Bassey and Ianis Hagi. Balogun had a hamstring injury, but Arfield, who was listed among the subs, could feel aggrieved to be left out as he was one of only a couple of players to have earned pass marks in the semi-final. Leon King, who had been with the B team in Belgium the previous day, was alongside Arfield in the dugout.
When he addressed the media for the first time on Monday, van Bronckhorst talked about how he favoured a 4-3-3 formation, but as the game started it was apparent that Rangers had reverted to something akin to a 4-2-3-1. There was flexibility and fluidity within that too, with Hagi, Aribo and Kent interchanging and taking turns to play as the ‘10’ behind Alfredo Morelos. For the most part, though, that role was taken by Aribo, and the Nigerian had an excellent game in that more advanced role.
With van Bronckhorst on the edge of the technical area – a position he would take for the majority of the game – Morelos kicked off, and the home side were immediately on the front foot. The Colombian scampered down the right and his low ball intended for Ryan Kent was cut out by the Sparta goalkeeper, Dominik Holec. It was a good first touch for the 27-year-old Slovakian who was making his European debut and his first appearance of the season.
There was a zip about Rangers’ play, and a hunger and a desire that was conspicuous by its absence at the weekend. And after six minutes, they came within a matter of inches of taking the lead. Ryan Kent, who had been told by Roy Makaay earlier in the week that ‘tricks were for the circus’, danced his way through the Sparta defence before cutting the ball back to Aribo. He steadied himself, took a touch, but his left foot shot was a fraction too high and kissed the top of the crossbar.
Synonymous with the play in the early stages was a high press from Rangers. They didn’t give the Sparta players many chances to settle, and they were rewarded for their efforts in the fourteenth minute. James Tavernier started the move with a lovely through ball to Hagi. The Romanian looked second favourite to reach the ball, but he showed great tenacity to stretch and slide it square to Morelos. The Colombian then had the simplest of tasks to sidefoot the ball home with his right foot.
That was his first goal for a month and only his seventh of the season. He has rightly been lambasted for some of his performances this season – the nadir arguably being his anonymous performance at Hampden – but this was more like what Alfie is all about. He was back to harassing and bullying defenders, being a nuisance and not giving them a minute’s peace. His work ethic was excellent, and if this is what our new management team can do to reinvigorate Morelos after just two training sessions, then that augurs well for the rest of the season.
Ibrox was bouncing, but Sparta started to get a foothold in the game and a couple of timely interventions were required from Calvin Bassey to avert the danger as the Czechs forayed forward. The youngster made the most of his opportunity in the starting XI. He bustled around like he always does and played a huge role in making Rangers more solid and compact than they have been of late.
After 22 minutes, it should have been 2-0. Tavernier executed another delicious pass to Hagi, and his cross picked out Aribo. Unfortunately, Aribo fired carelessly over the bar. He should have hit the target, and he appeared to be caught in two minds when the cross was delivered. The height of the delivery was such that Aribo could have attempted to head the ball, but he chose instead to shoot with his left foot. On the sidelines, van Bronckhorst had his head in hands, he knew it was a gilt-edged opportunity.
And his side were almost punished for their profligacy a couple of minutes later. Following an incisive move down the Rangers left, Martin Minchev shot for goal from close range, but he was denied by the outstretched foot of Allan McGregor. It wouldn’t be the last time that the veteran goalkeeper would keep the Czechs at bay either.
The game was now very open and swinging from end to end. On the half hour mark, a low cross from Barisic was deflected into the gloves of Holec. But he couldn’t keep a grip of the ball, and when it squirmed free, Morelos almost pounced. And when the Czechs bounced to the other end, superb defending from Barisic was enough to thwart any danger at the back post.
Holec was struggling between the sticks. He botched a couple of clearances and looked uneasy. Rangers should have tried to exploit that, but as half time approached their delivery into the box was poor. That was summed up when after Morelos rolled his marker, wriggled free and forced a corner kick, Tavernier’s cross lacked any conviction.
As the first half drew to a close, Hagi was booked for a sliding challenge, but that was the last real moment of any significance in an opening gambit that represented a vast improvement from Rangers. It couldn’t in all fairness have got much worse than what was witnessed on Sunday, but you could see that van Bronckhorst’s message had got across. There were very few defensive wobbles, there was hunger and desire, all capped off by a superb goal. There may have been a few flutters at the back after that, but Rangers were well worth their one-goal lead and should perhaps have been further in front.
But the fans didn’t have to wait long for the second goal to arrive, four minutes after the restart to be precise, and it was a gift. After Kent had curled a shot wide of target, Sparta got in a real fankle from the resulting goal kick. The ball was played to their Czech centre-back, Filip Panak, and he inexplicably tried to play the ball across his own penalty area. He got nowhere near enough loft on his pass, and Morelos was presented with a free header which gave Rangers the two-goal margin they needed for progression.
The blunder from Panak hit Sparta hard, and Kent should have put the game to bed and made it 3-0 a minute later. He was denied, however, by Holec, but by now van Bronckhorst’s name was reverberating around the stands. He has made an instant impact, and the natives were giving him the seal of approval.
But Sparta weren’t quite ready to toss in the towel, and they signalled their intent to attack when they made a triple change on 57 minutes. The introduction of the Swede, David Moberg-Karlsson, made a big difference, and they also opted for experience too, bringing on Bořek Dočkal who had made 72 appearances at European level.
Initially at least, the changes didn’t stem the flow, and Morelos was ruffling feathers again, going close to completing his hat-trick three times inside a matter of minutes. After tugging a shot across the face of goal, El Buffalo failed to beat the keeper after he was teed up by Aribo, and from the follow-up, he scooped the ball over the bar. Aribo then had a good chance after he was played in by Kent, but he dinked his shot over the bar
It was relentless, but van Bronckhorst had seen some changes in the Prague formation, so made alterations of his own. Nathan Patterson came on for Hagi and was stationed on the right, in front of Tavernier. There has been some debate over whether both can be accommodated in the team at the same time, but the manager was keen to stress that it was a tactical switch on this occasion. It was refreshing to see Patterson introduced to stymie a threat from the opposition rather than just making change for change’s sake.
And it was timely too as Sparta enjoyed the best of the final 20 minutes. And fourteen minutes from time, Adam Karabec spurned a fantastic chance to pull a goal back. A cross from the right sailed over Tavernier’s head, and Karabec headed wide with the goal at his mercy. At the very least he should have hit the target.
It was all getting a little too close for comfort, and the visitors were enjoying their best spell of the game. And with four minutes left, it took a heroic double save from Allan McGregor to preserve Rangers’ advantage.
McGregor has stimulated some debate of late over whether his race is run, but his reflexes were razor sharp as he firstly pawed away a header from Ladislav Krejčí then instinctively blocked the follow up from Matěj Pulkrab with his left leg. It was breath-taking stuff and showed how valuable an asset McGregor is.
As the minutes ticked towards 90, John Lundstram came on for Steven Davis. The veteran had once again put in another stellar shift alongside Glenn Kamara, and Rangers saw out the remaining minutes to seal progress into the knockout stages. The atmosphere in the closing stages was sensational, with the majority of fans staying to the end to applaud the efforts of their heroes.
So, the Giovanni van Bronckhorst era got off to the most perfect of starts. The fans got the response they wanted from the players, performance levels were at optimum across the board, and European football, with its benefits both financially and reputationally, was secured post-Christmas for a third successive year.
The players have now set a standard, shown what they are capable of. Let’s hope that continues as the bandwagon rolls on to Livingston away on Sunday.
Attendance: 48,370