‘Lucky’ – Alex Rae reacts to Rangers v Dortmund first half incident
Rangers were ‘lucky’ not to find themselves 1-0 down to Borussia Dortmund in the opening 15 minutes according to BT Sport pundit Alex Rae.
The Bears started the game well and had a big opportunity through Borna Barisic early on, before Dan-Axel Zagadou missed a free header from a corner by heading it straight into the ground and into Allan McGregor’s arms.
The reaction from all in the ground was one of surprise that the ball hadn’t ended up in the Rangers net and Rae, who was the co-commentator for the game on BT Sport, said Giovanni Van Bronckhorst’s side were ‘lucky’ not to be behind.
‘That’s a golden opportunity for Dortmund,” he said. “Rangers are lucky there. It should be 1-0.”
Dortmund continued to pile on the pressure in the second half but Rangers held firm to go into the break with a 1-0 lead thanks to James Tavernier’s converted penalty on the 38th minute.
Moments
Rangers started the game very well, keeping possession and pressing high while causing Dortmund plenty of problems.
But it is small moments like the one at that corner that are the difference between the good and the great teams.
The defence just totally lost their man for a split second and Zagadou was suddenly head and shoulders above everyone and should really have scored to put Rangers behind.
That would have left GvB’s side with a big mountain to climb against one of Europe’s best teams, despite arguably being the better side up to that point in the game.
Ultimately they got away with one on that occasion but they have to ensure going forward that it was just a singular error and not a feature of their play if they want to stand any chance of making it through to the last 16 of the tournament.
In other Rangers news, ‘Exploit them’ – BT commentator singles out Dortmund ace who Rangers must target