Boyd destroys Rangers ace for ‘horror show’ – then says Celtic star was even worse
Rangers legend Kris Boyd believes that Shane Duffy put in a worse performance for Celtic against Sparta Prague than Filip Helander did in Lisbon.
The Swede made errors leading to Benfica’s first two goals as the Lisbon side came back from 3-1 down with 10 men to earn a 3-3 draw.
However, Celtic centre-back Duffy endured a difficult night of his own in the Czech Republic as the Hoops went down 4-1 to Sparta Prague.
Writing in his column for the Scottish Sun, Boyd was not impressed with either display, but claimed Duffy’s was worse.
“I thought Filip Helander’s horror show against Benfica was the worst defensive display in Europe I’d watched in years,” he wrote.
“Yet two hours later, the Republic of Ireland captain had trumped his Rangers counterpart.”
An aberration
Helander put in the worst performance of his Rangers career on Thursday and it will have painful for him re-watching the mistakes this week.
His error for Benfica’s opener was unfortunate, but giving the ball away in dangerous areas like that is one of the risks you take by playing out from the back. Given that Rangers have conceded so few goals up until this point this season, it is a strategy that has clearly worked but unfortunately for the Swede, on this occasion he got caught out.
The second was perhaps a worse error, with the 27-year-old missing the opportunity to intercept and clear the ball on at least three occasions. However, mistakes can often breed mistakes and in the case of Helander, it is likely his first error was still playing on his mind.
Now this is no excuse, but it is a reminder that he simply played a bad game. Up until this point, Rangers had not conceded in the Europa League group stage and have given up just three goals in 13 Scottish Premiership matches. In the league Helander ranks first in the squad in terms of tackles and second in clearances, while he has attempted 53.9 passes per game at a 86.9% completion rate (via WhoScored).
While not perhaps on the level of Connor Goldson, Helander has been consistently good for Rangers this season and as his centre-back partner said this week he will “put it straight behind him”. He does not deserve to be turned on after one poor performance.
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