Perhaps only the Tory Government have received more penalties than theRangers did in the course of the last few months, oh the irony then to lose the Europa League Final on spot kicks after having had so much opportunity to practice – as Chris Sutton was all too happy to point out.
— Li’l Ze (@LilZe_7) May 18, 2022
I’ll bet James Tavernier wishes he’d shared the stash around the dressing room now. Particularly as he looked across the post dressing room and set eyes on poor Aaron Ramsey -p robably the only player in theRangers squad who hoped his captain lost the coin toss prior to the shoot-out starting – as he closed his eyes, clasped his hands in prayer and muttered ‘Dear Lord – the Frankfurt end please’.
WATCH 🎥: It’s heartbreak for Rangers fans here at the Estadio de la Cartuja stadium, as Aaron Ramsey’s penalty miss means the club lose to Eintracht Frankfurt in the #UEL final. @MoirTheLawyer pic.twitter.com/ylpSXffHaZ
— Clyde 1 Superscoreboard (@ClydeSSB) May 18, 2022
Mind you he should really blame his manager. After almost getting through the entirety of a tense 120 minutes of football without trusting ‘the best footballer to grace Scottish football since Paul Gascoigne’– remember Kris Boyd gets greatly rewarded financially for his insight on football – master tactician Gio Van Bronckhorst made the mistake of thinking ‘what would other people think?’ as he sent on a player, with less morale than an NHS nurse after a government pay review, to be one of five players entrusted with holding their nerve from 12 yards. When in reality Ramsey could only do one thing at once, and his energies were always going to be expended by holding his knees to stop them knocking.
At least theRangers can at least look to the funds received from their Europa League exploits as compensation, as that should at least cover what they’ve dished out in wages for their penalty bottler – but perhaps not quite the medical bills and of course the rest will be heading to Mike Ashley after they reached a settlement with the Sports Direct boss to bring an end to the long running court action. How many millions that’s cost them is unclear at this stage.
I can't 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/IJy2Tquko7
— Fi 🎧 (@FionaIsHome) May 18, 2022
Still, as the BT commentary team pointed out, the Bundesliga were all sitting up and taking notice of Ryan Kent’s European exploits against German opposition. Sadly however, for the Ibrox accountancy team, Kent showed about as much composure in front of goal as Russian soldier in a Ukrainian courtroom, and another source of much needed income disintegrated, as German football scouts suffering from back strain waiting for him to do something, eventually slumped back into their armchairs and looked out the Ibuprofen gel.
And so, the dream of Europa League glory dissolved. And what Kevin Thomson stated “would be the best achievement ever by any Scottish club” is consigned to the history books as yet another comedic failure, as theRangers players felt the force of a German boot to the knackers. But hey, at least their fans will know exactly how they feel. After all Frankfurt Ultras spent two days handing out similar punishment to the travelling support on the streets of Seville in the build-up to this one.
And for a team who clearly looked like they were missing a player with real pace to hurt the German defence, theRangers recruitment team could do worse than look at a few of those pre-match social media clips of fans ‘clashing’. After all there were a few in blue shirts who could give Daizen Maeda a challenge in a sprint over 100 yards. Turns out there is hope for next season after all.
And a final thank you to all connected with theRangers Thursday night box-set this season, because just when you thought the series was a load of Colin Nish, the ending was comedy gold, and Jota and Carl Starfelt seemed to agree, even if Ally McCoist was undecided.
Congratulations to Eintracht Frankfurt they win an incredibly close game with sensational penalties. Pot 1 in the Champions League awaits the Germans. Well done 🇩🇪🏆⚽️🇩🇪
— Michael Stewart (@mstewart_23) May 18, 2022
Shaun Riley
