Brugges vs Rangers 2nd Leg

When it rains it pours. With the skies growing greyer with every fixture, we all knew this storm was coming. Martin’s pitiful Rangers side were dismantled by a good, but not special, Club Brugge side in the Champions League playoff second leg in a dismal 6-0 humiliation.

As always with two-goal deficits in second legs, the first goal was key and it was never going to be Rangers who found it. The Belgians killed the game in the fifth minute through a Tresoldi diving header. Max Aarons was nowhere near his man on the right flank, allowing an easy ball into the Italian-born forward who faced no pressure from either centre back. The lack of communication (and perhaps effort) from the two Rangers centre backs is something that has cost us on numerous occasions already this season and Wednesday night in Bruges was no different.

The 22nd minute provided the only real positive for Rangers. Tzolis dispatched a rocket of a strike from distance with Butland stretching for a fingertip save to send it over. This was Rangers’ only highlight of the night.

While the tie had already been all but killed by Tresoldi’s header, Max Aarons double tapped the corpse of the tie with a rugby tackle on the halfway line in the ninth minute. Not for the first time this season, Rangers’ weak pressing and castrophically high defensive line was cut open by a single direct ball leaving Tzolis open with nothing but grass separating the Brugge man from Jack Butland. Tavernier came on to plug the gap left by Aarons and left with 10 men, what happened next was inevitable for a Russell Martin side.

The most common theme through the match was unchallenged headers in the Rangers box. Having already conceded the first through a cross ball, the second fell from a Brugge corner with Vanaken rising with little opposition to head the ball past Butland. Should Martin remain at the club for any period of time, we can expect to see this goal again, and again, and again.

The third and fourth came in quick succession. Who said lightning doesn’t strike twice? Joaquin Seys got on the end of a low cross to force a save from Butland, only to pounce on the rebound to make it 3-0 to the Belgians. Minutes later, Seys gets goal side of Gassama and volleys home from yet another cross into the box for the 4th in the 45th minute.

Unsurprisingly, this gutless Rangers side couldn’t close out injury time without conceding another. Yet another cross was delivered into the box and yet again the two centre backs are posted missing, with Stankovic having a free header to make it 5-0 before half time.

Diomande, Raskin and Curtis were subbed on to pick up the pieces after the first half thunderstorm. With the game long dead and buried, the second half was nothing more than a funeral. Tzolis completed the rout with a sixth through an impressive passage of play, the assist an admittedly lovely backheel flick from Trisoldi, before Rangers finally pulling back to a 5-4-0 low block to prevent further humiliation.

Despite this humiliation on the back of a shocking run of results for Rangers, it is understood that the board still backs Martin as Rangers fall into the Europa League.