Rangers took part in the Mercedes-Benz Junior Cup over the weekend.
Rangers academy coach Graeme Murty has told the club’s official YouTube channel that he was initially ‘angry’ with what German media were saying about the club’s youngsters.
Whilst the Rangers first team are away in Tenerife on a training camp, the club’s youngsters were in Germany last weekend.
Rangers sent their Under-19’s off to Sindelfingen to play in the Mercedes-Benz Junior Cup, taking on the likes of Bayern Munich, Hertha Berlin and Rapid Vienna.
The tournament is particularly interesting, as it’s a six-a-side tournament played indoors, and has seen the likes of Manuel Neuer, Mesut Ozil and Leroy Sane feature previously.
Rangers drew against Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin before beating Rapid Vienna, losing to Atlanta United, beating Schalke and then ultimately losing to Rapid when they met again.
It was a positive weekend for Rangers though, with the likes of Dapo Mebude, Jordan Houston and Lewis Mayo in action.
Now, boss Murty has revealed that the German media were surprised at the technical ability of the Rangers players, something which offended him at first as the pre-conception was that Rangers would just be strong and physical.
Murty did though calm down and admitted that he took it as a compliment in the end, and a massive plaudit to the work Rangers are doing in their academy right now.
“I spoke to some German media, and one said ‘not to be condescending, but we didn’t expect you to be any good. We expected you be strong and physical, but we didn’t expect the level of technical ability that you had.’ I was quite pleased with that actually, once I got over the little bit of anger, I thought for us to come here and him to say that, against some very very good teams, some teams who are renowned for their technical ability, is a real good plus for the boys, a real good plaudit for what we’re doing in the academy,” he added.
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