Rangers run riot in Europa League with four goal drubbing against FCSB
FCSB were nearly gifted the perfect start in Glasgow, as Jack Butland got caught out with the ball at his feet and was dispossessed by David Miculescu, but as the winger went to tap the ball into an empty net the referee’s whistle sounded for what was deemed to be a foul from the Romanian on the Rangers goalkeeper.
The hosts made sure to make that reprieve count, as not long afterwards they took the lead when Václav Cerny cut the ball back to the edge of the box, where Tom Lawrence was waiting to guide the ball into the bottom right of Ștefan Târnovanu’s goal.
While the early goal may have given the hosts’ attack some confidence, they still looked very vulnerable at the back, with FCSB coming close to striking on the counter a number of times following the goal.
Fortunately for Rangers, their Romanian visitors failed to capitalise on any of these chances and despite their own frailty, Philippe Clement’s men doubled their lead on the half-hour mark.
FCSB clumsily lost the ball in their own half, with Cerny quick to grab the ball and fire past Târnovanu from just outside the box. That second goal seemed to help calm the Rangers backline, as they took control of the game for the remainder of the half.
FCSB came out in the second half on the front foot in an attempt to find some way back into the game, but the hosts’ response was to slow down the pace of the game.
To combat this the visitors tried to use a high press to get the ball back, but all that did was give Cerny the space to receive the ball on the right wing and surge into the box, before cutting back onto his left foot to place the ball around Târnovanu to give Rangers their third.
Clement’s men made it four when Connor Barron won the ball in the visitors’ half, with Hamza Igamane gathering the loose ball before confusing the FCSB defence with some tricky dribbling and lashing a low effort into the bottom left for his first Rangers goal.
While the hosts continued to push for more goals all the way to FT, they had to settle for the four in a comprehensive victory that ended FCSB’s perfect start to the league phase.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Václav Cerny (Rangers)