By David Herd
Rangers first welcomed Belgian opposition to Ibrox away back in 1959, when visitors Anderlecht were soundly beaten 5-2 in front of almost 70,000 fans in the European Cup. Things have changed in almost every way since then, both at Rangers and in football in general, but one thing that has been relatively unchanged in the 66 years that have since elapsed is the wonderful atmosphere Ibrox generates on a European night. But the visit of another Belgian outfit tonight, that of FC Genk, threatened to change that perception of one of the continent’s hottest of venues.
Recent troubles on the pitch have led to severe disenchantment amongst the loyal ranks of Rangers fans, and despite the League Cup win over Hibs at the weekend, the vast majority for now still seem to be firmly in the camp demanding change in the dugout and the boardroom. The Hibs game saw huge numbers of vacant seats, and there were stories circulating pre match of poor ticket sales again. As well as the discontent, there was no doubt this situation was not helped by the fact that briefs cost around £50 to see a game against a team not amongst the more attractive names in the Europa League.
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By kick-off, most of the stadium seemed reasonably full with the exception of a large empty space in the Broomloan end. But there were plenty of other empty seats dotted around. The official attendance was later confirmed at 37898, around 13 thousand thousand short of capacity. Those who did decide to head for Ibrox should in theory at least see some goals, as history showed that Belgian opposition almost guaranteed them. Including that initial Anderlecht clash, the eight previous times the stadium welcomed opponents from Belgium racked up a highly impressive 34 goals, with 23 of them for Rangers. The first seven of those meetings were all home wins, another promising statistic, although the most recent Belgian visitors, FC Brugge just a few weeks ago, had become the first from their country to go back home with a victory.
It had been a Belgian in blue who had made all the weekend headlines, Nico Raskin’s goalscoring man-of-the-match display against Hibs very possibly keeping his Head Coach in a job. There was never any doubt he would again start against his countrymen now that his dispute with Russell Martin has declared a ceasefire, but many fans wondered if there might be a few other alterations made. In the end, when the teamsheets were made available an hour before kick-off, it was confirmed that there would just be the one change. £8million man Youssef Chermiti replaced Bojan Miovski at centre forward, the big money deadline day arrival given his first start.
Genk, meanwhile, have not had there own troubles to seek this season either. They have lost their last two league games, slumping to 14th in the Belgian top flight. But they still represented a real challenge for Rangers, who will have noted the Belgian team’s hugely impressive 5-1 away win in Poland against Lech Poznan in the qualifiers, or the fact Genk actually finished well above Brugge in the regular league season last campaign, only for the wheels to fall off their title assault in the strange play-off system adopted by the Belgian league. Fans will have also noted that the two teams who finished above Genk last season have both started brilliantly in the Champions League this season. Champions Union Saint Gilloise (who won in Genk last weekend thanks to a 94th minute winner) won in Eindhoven, and the Brugge team who humiliated Rangers in the qualifiers then hammered Monaco in their opening game in the League Phase.
The Belgians decided on four changes to their starting eleven, manager Thorsten Fink maybe is not yet feeling the same pressure as the man in the home dugout, but the former Champions League winning player with Bayern knew that he could not continue recent form for much longer. Amongst the men to come in was former Celtic striker Oh Hyeon-Gyu, the South Korean having left Parkhead after never really establishing himself as a regular.
The first half was mainly dominated by the visitors, who carved out several good chances. Right back Zakaria El Ouahdi is their top scorer this season, and it was soon obvious why. He bombed forward regularly, and had two decent chances in the first few minutes. Rangers responded with a couple of good efforts from the on-loan Mikey Moore, but in the main, Rangers were struggling to contain their opponents., especially in transition.
After 17 minutes, Oh missed an absolute sitter after the buzzbomb El Ouahdi had given him a virtual tap-in. He blazed it over from eight yards, to the relief of the Copland Stand behind the goal. Shortly afterwards, Patrik Hrosovsky hit the post after beating Raskin to a loose ball in the Rangers box. Russell Martin’s team needed to get a foothold, and in 34 minutes it looked like they suddenly had the perfect opportunity. Tavernier rose for a cross at the back post and saw his header strike the outstretched arm of a defender. The Slovenian referee didn’t see it, but play was soon stopped as VAR recommended he trot across to the screen. Usually this means a penalty, but this time the referee decided Tavernier had been guilty of pushing, and this offence had been first. No spot kick, and howls of frustration inside Ibrox. Those howls soon got louder as Mr Jug then took centre stage.
Four minutes from the break, Diomande clumsily threw himself into a tackle on the halfway line and caught his opponent high. The referee immediately waved a red card, and Rangers were down to ten men. Mr Jug had repeated history, he had been in charge when Daniel Candeias received a first half red card against Villareal in 2018. In truth, it was the right decision, it was a brainless tackle.
Then in first half injury time, the referee was in the spotlight again. Tavernier looked to catch Yaimar Medina in the area, and the referee was summoned back to the VAR screen. This time he did think it was a penalty, and Oh had the perfect chance to give the eleven men a half-time lead. But he was denied by a superb Jack Butland save, the hero of the Fenerbahce shootout repeating his heroics. Goalless at the interval, but it was obviously going to be an uphill battle with a man short in the second half.
The Head Coach made a change, keeping Moore in the dressing room and sending on Oliver Antman. It looked like Tavernier moved inside as a third centre back, with the Finn a wing back on the right, Meghoma the same on the left. There was an early chance for Aaasgaard, who blazed high and wide, but soon Genk had regained their superiority. Oh missed another glaring chance on 50 minutes, missing when unmarked at the back post from close range. But the goal was coming, and on 54 minutes, the Belgians sitting 14th in their table did take the lead. For the umpteenth time, the Rangers defence was split wide open, Oh racing clear on goal. The striker finally got one right, sending a low shot past Butland inside the far post.
The crowd were quickly back into “Martin must go” mode, but they got a brief glimmer of hope when a handball claim saw another VAR check, but play was quickly waved on. After 69 minutes it looked as if it was 2-0, Oh again putting the ball in the net, but this time VAR did do Rangers a favour, spotting a tight offside in the build-up. Russell Martin threw on Rothwell, Barron and Miovski for the last quarter of an hour, but by now Genk were in total control, and there was very little for them to worry about. As the fans started to desert the stadium, a Barron shot looked on target before being deflected over by a defender, but in truth this was a game that Genk won in a canter. Rangers offered almost nothing as an attacking threat, had a shape that was repeatedly cut wide open, and if not for some awful finishing it could have been a far worse result than the 1-0 final score.
Rangers had never lost at home to a Belgian team before Russell Martin’s arrival, now they have lost to two teams in a few weeks. He has now presided over four successive European losses, has a team sitting second bottom of the Scottish Premiership, and had to listen to the support telling him to “Get to ****” yet again at the end. A support that never really made the kind of noise we all expect on this type of night, and who seem to be going through the motions of supporting their team while simply not believing in the philosophy in front of their eyes.
Yes, the sending off had an impact. Yes, Rangers may have had a penalty at 0-0. But this was another dreadful performance, by a Rangers team that looks as if it has no idea how to arrest this decline. There are seven more Europa League games to play. The league has 33 more matches. There is a League Cup semi-final early next month. The question most fans want answered, is when there will be someone else in charge for these challenges to come. If that doesn’t happen soon, who knows how many empty seats will be inside Ibrox in the matches ahead.