BT Sport pundit blown away by ‘wonderful’ Ridvan Yilmaz despite 3-0 Rangers defeat v Napoli
Kevin Thomson was impressed by Ridvan Yilmaz on Wednesday night as Rangers lose 3-0 away to Napoli in the Champions League.
Yilmaz, 21, was finally handed his Champions League group stage debut for the Gers by Giovanni van Bronckhorst after weeks upon weeks of fans calling to see more of the Turkey international.
And he didn’t disappoint either.
Despite the scoreline in Naples, Yilmaz looked a solid choice defensively and also threatened in the attack.
In the second half, he was disappointed to have not got an assist when an inch-perfect low cross into the Napoli box was completely missed by Alfredo Morelos.
“He’s got to score,” said Thomson on BT Sport 4 on Wednesday night (26 October, 09:24pm).
“It’s brilliant from Yilmaz. Great ball.
“I thought Ryan Kent’s pass was slightly behind him but he does brilliant and it’s a wonderful ball in.
“It’s a sitter for Morelos.”
No more Barisic
Yilmaz proved that if he can perform well against Napoli in a 3-0 defeat in the Champions League, Giovanni van Bronckhorst can probably trust him against teams like Livingston and St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership,
Considering he cost the club £5million in the summer when he joined from Besiktas, Yilmaz has been desperately under-used by van Bronckhorst.
It’s even more baffling when you consider just how bad Borna Barisic has been.
Yilmaz is a breath of fresh air and that’s two good performances in two starts against Dundee and Napoli now – two completely different opponents and he’s still done well.
We really hope that this spells the end of Barisic’s time regularly starting for Rangers.
Of course, he’ll have to play every now and then to make sure Yilmaz is getting burnt out while the injury to Leon King in Naples suggests the Croatian may be forced to play at centre-back this weekend against Aberdeen.
But Yilmaz is the man at left-back now.
If van Bronckhorst cannot see that the Turkish ace is the better option then he’s beyond all hope.
In other Rangers news, a BT Sport pundit blasted this “stupid” Gers player for an incident against Napoli.