Lyon coach Rudi Garcia believes a red card for Ryan Kent actually aided Rangers as they closed out a 2-0 friendly win against the Ligue 1 giants on Thursday, speaking to FootMercato.
Steven Gerrard’s side were certainly thrown in at the deep end as they began their preparations for the 2020/21 campaign this week.
Lyon might have been without Moussa Dembele, Rangers’ old nemesis, but Garcia did send out a team full of experience and quality, including former Manchester United right-back Rafael da Silva and £23 million play-maker Jeff Reine-Adelaide.
Thanks to an own goal from Marcelo and a deflected Ianis Hagi effort, Rangers already have a statement win to their name in pre-season as they triumphed at the Groupama Stadium. Despite the fact that Kent was sent for an early bath with 40 minutes remaining.
Speaking after a disappointing result and an even worse performance, Lyon coach Garcia was left to rue a red card which appeared to galvanise an organised and hard-working Gers side.
“We started well, we even started very well. There were some good moves but we may not have made the right choices in front of goal,” says the former Roma boss, whose forwards failed to really trouble debutant goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin.
“We conceded the first goal from a corner kick where we were deficient in the management of details.
“I would have preferred that Rangers kept eleven men (on the pitch). After, (the red card) they folded even tighter and closed the spaces even more.”
The night wasn’t all bad for Kent, however. After all, it was his explosive burst of acceleration down the right-hand side that forced Marcelo to put the ball into his own net.
While the result counts for nothing really, a 2-0 win away at Lyon represents another stand-out triumph for a Rangers side who, under Steven Gerrard, are putting together an impressive portfolio of continental performances.
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