Well, last night was all a bit special wasn’t it? Truth be told, this has been an arduous season for Rangers. Philippe Clement has bit the dust, as have their Premiership title hopes, sitting a whopping 16 points behind the league leaders.
However, let’s forget about domestic action for a moment, shall we? No one wants to talk about that. Instead, let us discuss a truly remarkable night in Europe for the Ibrox side.
Was it the best in their history? Well, it’s surely right up there with that night in Dortmund a few years ago and the sensational win over Leipzig in 2021/22.
Jose Mourinho is a coaching legend but he met his match in the form of a mere novice – Barry Ferguson – on Thursday evening.
Rangers' 8 best European nights – ranked
Rangers have enjoyed plenty of great European nights over the years, but which is the best?
ByRoss Kilvington
Ferguson, of course, has plentiful experience in the professional game but let’s be honest, his managerial CV is no match for Mourinho. Alas, it was the Scots who roared on in Turkey last night, securing a 3-1 first-leg win in the Europa League.
Rangers' European heroes
Let’s be honest with ourselves, this tie was one that could have gone horrible. Rangers have an interim manager and they’ve shown on so many occasions this term that they’re not good enough.
Yet, when that Europa League theme bellows around the stadium, they seem to come alive.
Indeed, memories of Dortmund, Leipzig and that run to the final under Gio van Bronckhorst just a few years ago came flooding back this week.
It took just six minutes too. The Gers came flying out of the traps when the much-maligned, Cyriel Dessers, one of the biggest scapegoats we’ve seen at Ibrox in recent years, found the back of the net.
88
Minutes played
88
2
Goals
1
2
Shots on target
2
1/2
Successful dribbles
2/5
40
Touches
36
22/30 (73%)
Accurate passes
16/20 (80%)
1/5
Duels won
6/15
Truth be told, this was perhaps the striker’s finest night in the famous blue of Rangers, putting in a performance for the ages. So good it was that Mourinho said he “looked like the best player in the world.”
It wasn’t just the goal that set Dessers’ night apart from his colleagues. He also supplied Cerny’s first strike of the night with a quite brilliant first-time pass. The winger swept the ball into his centre forward in the right channel and he pulled it back with utter precision for Cerny to find the back of the net from close range.
Cerny was also pretty damn good, finding the net twice on a night that cemented his status as the best player at the club.
Still, will he be the best player to don Rangers blue over the last few years? There’s another wide player who’s been causing quite the fuss since leaving Glasgow behind.
Forgotten Rangers loanee now a £120m star in the making
This was a cracking week for British teams in Europe. Liverpool saw off the challenge of PSG, Aston Villa beat Club Brugge, Chelsea defeated FC Copenhagen and Celtic, ah…yes…Celtic no longer have European football.
Where Are They Now
Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast’s Where Are They Now series.
Yet, on Tuesday evening, PSV Eindhoven were being dispatched, dismantled, put to the sword by Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, defeated 7-1 on their own patch.
The former Rangers star has become quite the manager and as it happens, he was coming up against the employers of a former Gers loanee.
He is currently injured but Malik Tillman is the man, a player who has only gone from strength to strength since a loan spell in Scottish football.
The USA international donned Rangers colours during the 2022/23 season and made quite the impression, scoring 12 goals and collecting five assists in 43 outings.
On loan from Bayern at the time, he didn’t extend his time in Scotland, with one report noting that he “really didn’t want to come” back. Well, each to their own.
Instead, Tillman secured a £12m move to PSV in the summer of 2024 after a year on loan in the Netherlands.
Well, now aged 22, it’s safe to say he’s got a bright future in the game, perhaps an even bigger one than Cerny who is in the prime of his career at 27.
Indeed, last term, he set the Eredivisie alight with nine goals and ten assists in just 28 appearances. A captivating talent boasting trickery and pace, it led to a pretty fine appraisal from former Ajax star Kenneth Perez.
That may well be over-egging it a bit but you only have to take a look at the direction a player like Cody Gakpo has gone in since moving away from the Netherlands at a similar age.
Like Tillman, he’s a tricky winger and having moved to Liverpool, he’s now estimated to be worth around €104m according to CIES Football Observatory. That aforementioned £120m certainly isn’t out of the question for a player also compared to a certain Jude Bellingham.
So, how is the young American doing this term? Well, despite currently residing on the treatment table with a leg problem, he has starred again with 11 goals and four assists in all competitions.
Coincidentally, that record is already not far off Cerny’s best seasonal haul of 13 goals and 12 assists during his own days in the Eredivisie where he played for Ajax and FC Utrecht.
95
Games
45
21
Goals
16
22
Assists
11
5,132
Minutes played
2,932
So, while the Gers were never going to be able to prise Tillman away from Bayern Munich on a permanent deal, particularly for a £12m fee, there will surely be some regret that they weren’t able to get him come back.
Had they done so, perhaps Cerny wouldn’t even be playing for Rangers right now. Silver linings and all that.
Ferguson has made 9/10 Rangers ace look like "the best player in the world"
Rangers put one foot in the Europa League quarter-finals by beating Fenerbahçe in İstanbul on Thursday night, with one player in particular starring.
ByBen Gray