Rangers were beaten to the signature of Christophe Berra by Scottish Premiership rivals Hearts this summer.
If any Rangers fans were wondering why their club were considering taking a punt on the ageing Scotland international Christophe Berra, they would have been left in no doubt after his Hearts side left the Gers frustrated and goalless on Saturday.
According to the Edinburgh News in the spring, Rangers were hoping to lure Berra back to Scotland, only for the 32-year-old to be wooed by the prospect of returning to Tynecastle, where he started his professional career 15 years earlier.
And, in his first game against Rangers since he snubbed their advances, Berra rolled back the years to put in a supreme performance at the heart of the visitors’ defence. That Jon Daly’s side left Ibrox with a point and a clean sheet owed much to the 36-time Scotland international’s superb positioning and willingness to put his body on the line.
A perfectly timed intervention prevented Kenny Miller from sweeping Rangers into an early lead and, from then on, the die was cast. Berra was an impenetrable wall and not Miller nor in-form new signing Alfredo Morelos could find a way through.
Rangers fans may point to a lack of cutting edge as they fall five points behind Celtic with just three games played but they would have to admit that Berra’s performance was arguably the difference between one point and three.
Fortunately, Pedro Caixinha has another big-name international centre-back to call upon in Portugal’s Euro 2016 winning stopper Bruno Alves, partnering his highly-rated compatriot Fabio Cardoso.
However, Berra’s display showed exactly why Rangers wanted him and highlighted the depth of quality he could have added to Caixinha’s squad.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
