Will Dodds

Fri 6 November 2020 10:39, UK

Rangers defender Connor Goldson said that his side were “complacent” towards the end of their Europa League tie with Benfica.

The Gers were 3-1 ahead in Portugal on Thursday to a Benfica side down to 10 men, but conceded a two-goal lead late on and a potentially commanding position at the head of group D.

Goldson’s own goal opened the scoring for Benfica, following a Filip Helander mistake, and the defender labelled the result as disappointing.

Goldson was talking in the pre-match press conference on Friday morning ahead of the game against Hamilton on Sunday.

“Since I have been at the football club we have come a long way,” he said (via Rangers).

“Last night was obviously disappointing we got a little bit complacent at the end.”

He added: “We are trying to forget about the noise and concentrate on the next game, the main thing for us is winning games of football.”

Points thrown away

While a draw away at Benfica is an excellent result on the face of it, Steven Gerrard and his side will be devastated by the manner in which it played out.

After making a poor start, Rangers began to put Benfica under pressure and forced Nicolas Otamendi into getting himself sent off by finding the speedy Ryan Kent in space behind. From that point on, they were dominant and deserved their three goals.

As an illustration of their dominance, Rangers had 58% possession, 13 shots to Benfica’s 6 and 1.98 expected goals to the home side’s 1.35 (via Infogol).

However, while 3-1 in the lead they continued to press on, with full-backs James Tavernier and Borna Barisic caught too high up and the Portuguese team able to break on them.

Gerrard and his defenders will need to have stern words after this match, because this was a golden opportunity thrown away. Rangers have certainly made progress, but they will not get such an opportunity to take a scalp like this too often.

In other Rangers news, ‘In hindsight, maybe’ – Gerrard admits decision he might have got wrong v Benfica