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  • 6 months ago
Mark Atkinson reports after Rangers’ 3-0 win over Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League.

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Transcript
00:01A big win for Rangers tonight in the Champions League, third qualifying round.
00:06They've defeated Victoria Pilsen 3-0 in the first leg and have one foot in the play-off round where they could face either Salzburg or Club Rouge.
00:17This was a really impressive performance from Rangers, a vast improvement from the 1-0 draw against Motherwell in the Premiership on the Saturday.
00:25Manager Russell Martin, very ruthless, he dropped Captain James Tavernier and Nicola Raskin.
00:31He also reinstated serial debtors into his front line as the number nine and he gave a debut to Oliver Antman on the right wing and all those decisions were vindicated.
00:40Antman was excellent on his debut, a really impressive performance.
00:44Galloping down the right-hand side, he's quick, he's direct.
00:48He's got a really nice turn of pace and he's got a very good end product as well on the episode tonight.
00:52On the other flank, Jeddy Kassam, the new darling of the Rangers support, scored two goals, got the opening goal after great link-up play with serial debtors and then headed home from an Abman cross not long after the restart.
01:03I think the only frustration might be that Rangers could have scored more to make the victory more comprehensive.
01:09It is hard to see Pilsen coming back on the evidence of tonight over in Czechia next week.
01:15They really missed their talisman, Pavel Sulc, who's joined Lyon and they looked a little bit lost without him, certainly in an attacking sense, but defensively as well, they had no answer to the Ibrox side.
01:27The Rangers players were warmly applauded off the pitch, but it's worth mentioning a couple of other performances.
01:33I thought Lyle Cameron on his first up, Rangers, played really well in the field where Raskin normally operates.
01:39And Max Ahrens, who has been playing left-back since arriving here on loan from Bournemouth, he was moved on to the right flank and looked much more accomplished.
01:47His excellent pass to Antman set up the third goal.
01:51It was a quiet night for the Rangers' defence.
01:53I thought John Suter was a very solid captain, but Nasser Jiga, who's on loan from Wolves, really is looking quite an accomplished centre-half.
02:01He's better on the ball than Suter, and he's also very, very good in the duels, putting a really good block, a nil-nil after 19 minutes that maybe kept Rangers ahead in that early stages when Pilsen probably had more confidence.
02:17I can't see Rangers not getting through unless they really put in a terrible performance.
02:22And Pilsen show a side to them that we just didn't see here at Ibrox.
02:25Rangers can look forward to potentially a fantastic night here at Ibrox in a couple of weeks' time when they take on either the Austrians or the Belgians.
02:34We'll hear from Russell Martin very shortly, but I'm sure he'll be very pleased with not only the performance, but the fact that the reaction of his players and also the changes he made.
02:42It finished here at Ibrox.
02:44Rangers 3, Victoria Pilsen, nil.
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