Mats Hummels was left fuming after Borussia Dortmund’s ‘nonsensical’ 4-2 home defeat to a rampant Rangers in the Europa League knockout stages, speaking to Sky Deutschland.
It’s 2016 and Rangers have just suffered a humiliating defeat against to the fourth-best team in Luxembourg. Their manager is standing knee deep in shrubbery, pleading for calm as the frustration threatens to spill over.
You turn to a dejected Rangers supporter and tell them, six years later, they’ll be 3-0 and then 4-1 up away from home at Borussia Dortmund, bringing Aaron Ramsey off the bench to see out one of the greatest results in the history of not just Rangers Football Club but Scottish football as a whole.
Their response, one presumes, would not be printable in a family publication.
Pinch yourself Rangers fans. This is not a dream.
John Lundstram really did score a 20-yard stunner at the Signal Iduna Park last night. Alfredo Morelos really did run World Cup winner Hummels ragged. Yes, that was Ryan Kent tearing apart a side who came within 120 minutes of conquering the continent not so long ago.
But while a historic – and much-deserved – win at one of Europe’s powerhouses must have felt like a once-in-a-lifetime sort of occasion for the travelling support, it will have seemed oddly familiar for Die Schwarzgelben.
Hummels, in particular, was left with a nasty case of déjà vu at full-time. Dortmund have now conceded a staggering nine goals in their last two home games.
How far can Rangers go in the Europa League?
“If you watch the game against Leverkusen (a 2-5 defeat on February 6th), we conceded four goals after losing the ball. Today, there were three like that,” sighs the former Bayern Munich superstar.
“It was a slight loss of the ball at 1-0, an unnecessary loss of the ball at 2-0, an unnecessary loss of the ball at 4-1.
“For me, it is clear what our problem is. The coach talks about it a lot. (But) we don’t implement it in a lot of positions.
“We play a lot of nonsensical football. Illogical football. And thus make opponents unnecessarily strong because we often don’t want the simple solution but want to play football that is far too complicated.
“You’ll never be successful like that.”
Humiliation for Dortmund
It was one of those rare nights where every single player in Rangers colours stepped up to the plate. Lundstram played his best game for the club. Calvin Bassey, the oft-maligned, stand-in centre-half, was imperious alongside Connor Goldson.
And, if you hired a crack team of world leading scientists and engineers to design a footballer tailor-made for a daunting away game in Europe, the finished product would look something like Ryan Jack.
The Tartan Terminator.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
