Philippe Clement insists Rangers’ desire and hunger in their convincing 4-0 Europa League win over FCSB at Ibrox was fuelled by being “sick of losing”. The manager came under enormous pressure after the 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock on Sunday left the club six points off the top of the Scottish Premiership and the previous European game at Ibrox ended in a 4-1 win for Lyon.
There was an early reprieve when the Romanian side – formerly known as Steaua Bucharest – had the ball in the net only for a foul to be called. But Tom Lawrence opened the scoring in the 10th minute and the winger Vaclav Cerny fired in a double, one either side of half-time, before the second-half substitute Hamza Igamane scored his first goal for the club to wrap the game up.
“We were all sick of losing,” said Clement. “We wanted to stand up all together, and that’s what they’ve been doing. Somebody told me also it’s more than 20 years that Rangers won a group-stage game by a four-goal difference. So it’s a good reference in that way; that it’s not so easy to do things like this. I still see a lot of things that we can improve in this game, but I’m happy that everybody can see that there’s potential in this squad.”
On Cyriel Dessers’ “strange” departure from the pitch in the second half, Clement, who will have midfielder Lawrence assessed after he had to go off with a twisted knee, said: “Cyriel got a finger or something in his eye, so he lost sight. He could not see well any more. He was quite emotional because he wanted to stay on the pitch, but he didn’t see anything, so he ran off the pitch. That was a really strange moment for me, but he apologised after the game.
“It’s better to sit down and give time for your teammate to come on but it was in the emotions of wanting to win, wanting to react, wanting to play well, what he was doing in the game. No problems with that.”
Artem Dovbyk’s first-half penalty earned Roma a 1-0 home victory over Dynamo Kyiv, handing the Serie A side their first victory in this season’s Europa League. Dovbyk gave Roma the lead in the 23rd minute, converting from the spot after Taras Mykhavko was penalised for pulling Tommaso Baldanzi’s shirt.
The visitors went close to equalising on several occasions, missing multiple opportunities, and had a goal disallowed just before half-time for an offside. Roma took control in the second half and continued to push forward in search of a second goal, controlling the majority of possession. The hosts nearly found the net when Eldor Shomurodov fired a shot wide from a tight angle in the closing minutes.
Roma’s city rivals Lazio went top of the Europa League table with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Twente. The hosts had Lars Unnerstall sent off after 11 minutes, the goalkeeper racing out of his goal and fouling Boulaye Dia. Pedro put Lazio ahead before half-time but Twente held the visitors to 1-0 until 87 minutes, when Gustav Isaksen’s goal sealed the victory.
Anderlecht joined Lazio and Tottenham on nine points with a 2-0 win against Ludogorets in Razgrad. The home side had Caio Vidal sent off after half an hour and Anderlecht capitalised with second-half goals from Samuel Edozie and Anders Dreyer.
Ajax eased to a 3-0 win over Qarabag, who had two players sent off, thanks to goals from Kenneth Taylor, Chuba Akpom and a Wout Weghorst penalty. The Qarabag midfielder Júlio Romão received an early red card for a foul on Mika Godts, while Elvin Jafarguliyev was sent off for a second booking just before the end.
Real Sociedad beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-1 in Belgrade thanks to goals from Jon Pacheco and Sergio Gómez. Dor Turgeman grabbed a late consolation for the hosts nine minutes from time, before his teammate Osher Davida was sent off for a second booking late on.
Eintracht Frankfurt overcame a surprisingly tricky challenge to secure a 1-0 home victory against Latvia’s RFS, with Hugo Larsson scoring the decisive goal late in the second half. Porto defeated Hoffenheim 2-0 in Portugal, Tiago Djaló scoring in first-half stoppage time before Samu Omorodion sealed the result 15 minutes before full time.
Source: theguardian.com
