Rangers v USG incident called ‘Crazy’ after what was spotted on BBC

Steven Thompson has slammed Union Saint-Gilloise winger Ousseynou Niang for his playacting against Rangers on Thursday.

The Gers qualified automatically for the final 16 of the Europa League at Ibrox on 30 January, with a 2-1 win after goals from Nico Raskin and Vaclav Cerny.

Leon King was forced off early after clashing heads with the Senegalese forward, who was later called out by Thompson for diving and over-exaggerating.

Speaking live on BBC Sportsound (30 January, 8:27pm), he spotted another incident, saying: “Niang is looking for an Oscar there.

“Look, he’s back up now, honest to god. It really drives me crazy that.”

Rangers in ‘Crazy’ incident against USG

It is fair to say that the playacting of the 23-year-old didn’t go down with the former Light Blues striker.

Rolling around over a challenge and then being straight back to your feet is an element of modern football that annoys large sections of supporters.

It won’t necessarily bother the Ibrox faithful given that Raskin put Philippe Clement’s side 1-0 up with a header with just over 20 minutes gone in Govan.

Niang was only made to pay for his rolling around when Franjo Ivanovic saw his equaliser ruled out for offside less than 10 minutes later.

Rangers stadium
Credit: Imago

In the end, the Senegalese winger was made to pay and it is fair to say that the Gers got the better of him regardless of his actions.

It is unclear why he opted to try and win “an Oscar” as Thompson put it, but clearly, it didn’t have the desired effect to secure a positive result at Ibrox.

In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton predicts a Steven Gerrard return after the latest Al-Ettifaq sack news.

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