Aston Villa coach, Micheal Beale, has stated on his Instagram story that Rangers were ‘outstanding’ despite their heartbreaking Europa League final defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties.
After being level at 1-1 after 120 minutes, both teams went to penalties with Frankfurt winning 5-4 – Aaron Ramsey saw his penalty saved.
On one hand, it has been some journey for Rangers, who had to deal with the surprise departure of Steven Gerrard in November and then the arrival of Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
Despite joining midway through, the Dutch legend has done a fine job, but this penalty shootout win will hurt a lot.
Beale coached these Rangers players for a number of years and he urged them to keep their ‘head high’ despite the defeat.
“You have been outstanding,” said Beale. “Walk tall and with your head high, You are an amazing group of people.”
EINTRACHT FRANKFURT BREAK RANGERS HEARTS
Frankfurt are the Europa League winners – also securing a Champions League spot for next season – and it’s something Rangers have to recover from pretty quickly.
They have the Scottish Cup final against Hearts to deal with at the weekend and the mood in the camp needs to be picked up pretty quickly.
There’s no doubt that the Gers will be kicking themselves, especially Ryan Kent who missed an absolute sitter late in extra time.
Either way, in the end, Frankfurt are deserving winners of the Europa League after a gruelling showdown with Rangers.
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