Kris Boyd blown away by ‘unbelievable’ Ryan Kent in Rangers Europa League triumph v Dortmund
Kris Boyd was wowed by Ryan Kent’s second-half performance for Rangers in their 2-2 draw with Borussia Dortmund on Thursday night.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men progressed to the Europa League’s last-16 after securing an amazing 6-4 aggregate victory with a draw at Ibrox.
Kent, 25, was electric in Govan, winning the penalty for James Tavernier’s first goal and also constantly harassing the Dortmund defenders throughout the tie.
Speaking on Sky Sports News, Ibrox hero Boyd couldn’t help but praise the English winger after the game.
“The second half, a lot of credit has got to go to Giovanni van Bronckhorst. In the first half, Borussia Dortmund were well on top and you felt as if there was only going to be one team going through,” Boyd said, as shown on Sky Sports Scotland’s Twitter account on Thursday night [24 February].
“But he was able to change it at half-time, go with a back-three and put Kent and Morelos up front.
“Ryan Kent was unbelievable [in] the second half, Alfredo Morelos took the ball in and allowed Rangers to get up the pitch. It’s a fantastic result for Rangers Football Club.”
Incredible
Kent has a reputation for being an inconsistent player.
He definitely has his bad spells where he won’t get among the goals for weeks or months and he may flit in between quiet and brilliant spells within games too.
Without criticising him, Kent is a bit of a luxury player because Rangers can afford to have him in the side even when he’s not at his best because when he is at his best – oh my.
Kent was incredible against Dortmund.
Stats by WhoScored show that he completed four dribbles out of the seven he attempted at Ibrox on Thursday night. No player in the whole match completed more than the ex-Liverpool winger.
Kent also made one key pass and chipped in defensively by completing a tackle and a clearance.
He’s not really known for his defensive work but he was busting a gut all night against Dortmund and the penalty he won in the first half was top-class forward play.
Even though Kent was on his way out of the penalty area, his quick feet managed to draw a clear foul and that allowed Tavernier to get the first of his two goals on the night.
What a performance by Kent and what a performance by Rangers.
Barcelona, next. Anyone?
In other Rangers news, Chris Jack has had his way on refereeing conspiracy theories.