Rangers were linked with Simon Deli before he joined Club Brugge and shone in the Champions League.
Just three months after Simon Deli was linked with a £1.7 million move to Rangers, he has produced arguably the best performance of any centre-half in the 2019/20 Champions League so far.
According to iSport, the Ivory Coast international had caught the eye of Rangers during a fine season at Slavia Prague, during which he won the Czech league title and ran Chelsea close in the Europa League.
But even those who watched Deli improve year on year in Prague might not have seen this performance coming. Brugge were supposed to be swatted aside by a rejuvenated Real at the Bernabau on Tuesday night but they had plans of their own.
And, thanks to a monumental performance from their new defender, Zinedine Zidane’s star-studded side were very fortunate indeed to avoid shock defeat in front of their own supporters.
Only a late Casemior header salvaged a 2-2 draw and Deli, who made six clearances, bullied Eden Hazard and extinguished Karim Benzema’s fire with a magnificent defensive performance, really didn’t deserve to come away from the Spanish capital without a famous win to his name.
Deli might have been something of an unknown across Europe before but not now. Even a few Rangers fans are rueing their failure to get a £1.7 million bargain over the line.
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