Rangers beat HJK Helsinki 3-2 in a friendly at Ibrox on Sunday.
Rangers were in friendly action on Sunday afternoon afternoon, defeating HJK Helsinki 3-2 ahead of their return to Scottish Premiership action in midweek.
As part of the deal to sign Alfredo Morelos from HJK Helsinki in 2017, Rangers arranged an Ibrox friendly with the Finnish club, giving Steven Gerrard’s side a run-out yesterday.
Gerrard went with a strong side after Friday’s Scottish Cup clash with Cowdenbeath was called off due to a frozen pitch, and Scott Arfield opened the scoring for the Gers just shy of the half hour mark.
However, HJK hit back almost immediately, with Kevin Kouassivi-Benissa scoring an equaliser – and the same thing happened in the second half, with Nikola Katic powering home a header for Rangers before Lassi Lappalainen quickly brought the scores level again.
Daniel Candeias scored the winner though, handing Rangers a 3-2 victory to kick off 2019 perfectly ahead of facing Kilmarnock in midweek.
The game saw new signing Jermain Defoe pick up 45 minutes of action, making his Rangers debut following his loan move from Bournemouth earlier this month.
Defoe has barely featured for Bournemouth this term, so getting him playing time is key as Rangers hope that the 36-year-old can be the difference in the Scottish Premiership title race this season.
After the game, Defoe took to Twitter to post a photo of himself in action for Rangers for the first time, thanking the fans for their support whilst adding that he can’t wait to play a league game for the club – possibly this week.
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