BBC Scotland pundit stunned by ‘world-class’ Jack Butland moment in Rangers 1-1 v Servette
Alan Hutton was stunned by Jack Butland’s “world-class save” in the first half of Rangers’ 1-1 draw with Servette in Geneva on Tuesday night.
Butland, 30, made an incredible one-on-one save in the seventh minute to deny Timothé Cognat from opening the scoring.
At halftime of the Gers’ Championship League qualifier victory, Hutton spoke about Butland’s stop and claimed that his ability to make saves like that is why Michael Beale went out and sign him.
“We’ve seen Rangers goalkeepers make massive saves but Bedia flicks it around the corner and then Cognat has a burst of pace,” said Hutton on BBC Scotland on Tuesday night (15 August, 08:24pm).
“I didn’t realise he has that much pace and he gets away from the back four. Tavernier can’t keep up with him and it’s a huge save at a huge time in the game.
“If that goes in, we could be talking about something different here.
“[It’s a] world-class save and that is why they brought him to the club.”
Incredible
If there was one player who played a massive role in Rangers reaching the final round of qualifying for the Champions League qualifiers, it’s Butland.
The former Stoke goalkeeper joined the Gers early in the summer as Beale moved fast to find a replacement for modern-day legend Allan McGregor.
It was always going be a tough ask to follow in the footsteps of McGregor but although it’s early days in Butland’s Rangers career, the Englishman looks as though he has what it takes to fill Greegsy’s gloves.
That save in the opening minutes against Servette meant that they didn’t go into an early frenzy and turn our aggregate lead into their aggregate lead.
Yes, the Swiss side did eventually take the lead but we could have easily been two down at the break and based on how we’ve performed in recent years, there might not have been any coming back.
Butland was superb in Switzerland and we cannot wait to see what he can do in the play-off against PSV Eindhoven.
In other Rangers news, an injury expert has shared an update on Tom Lawrence.