Leon Balogun is a fan of José Mourinho but hopes Rangers’ Europa League clash against his Fenerbahce team on Thursday sees the Ibrox side return to form. The 2-1 home defeat by Motherwell in Barry Ferguson’s first home game as interim boss condemned them to a third successive defeat at Ibrox for the first time since 2012.
Balogun started on the bench but came on at half-time as part of a triple substitution with Motherwell leading through goals from Luke Armstrong and Tom Sparrow. Cyriel Dessers pulled one back after the break, but it was not enough as Rangers ended Saturday night 16 points behind Premiership leaders Celtic.
Balogun is looking forward to taking on Mourinho’s Fenerbahce in the first leg of their last-16 tie in Turkey and hopes Rangers can rediscover the form which saw them qualify for the knockout stages of the competition. The 36-year-old defender said: “I think I played against Mourinho only once. That was my Premier League debut and we beat him [at Manchester United] with Brighton 3-2 at home. So that is a very fond memory. He’s a very, very big character. A very big manager in the football world and there’s a lot of respect that you need to have for his name.
“I personally enjoy his press conferences because a lot of people, I think, call him arrogant. Might be. But I think he’s a very special character. And I think you need a few characters who are not too generic in football to keep it entertaining.
“And also to give you guys [the media] something to write about. It’s a big opportunity for us on Thursday away. It might actually help that we play the first game away after what happened domestically and get supporters back on our side.
“But, again, we need to make at least two massive steps forward from today in order to get a result there. It probably helps that then we play European football again straight after, a week later. So it’s a massive chance, a massive opportunity. And we really need to put everything into the game. We have to do it anyway, but now even more.”
The substitute Yang Hyun-jun delivered two goals and an assist as Celtic emerged from a tough test against St Mirren in Paisley with a strong finish. The South Korean continued his recent improvement by putting Celtic in front for the third time in the match. The winger then sent a brilliant ball over the top for Daizen Maeda to net before heading home in stoppage time to seal a 5-2 victory. It was his third goal this week and his fifth in nine matches.
Jeffrey Schlupp and Arne Engels, from the spot, had each given Celtic the lead but St Mirren levelled twice through Declan John and Killian Phillips and had a number of other good chances.
Simon Murray’s header for Dundee cancelled out Makenzie Kirk’s strike in a five-minute spell before half-time as the home side drew 1-1 with St Johnstone. Kirk recorded his 10th goal of the season when he opened the scoring after 40 minutes but Murray responded three minutes later for Dundee.
The hosts dominated possession in the second period and the substitute Scott Tiffoney hit a shot that smacked off a post after 83 minutes and then shortly after contrived to steer the ball over the crossbar when it appeared easier to score. Dundee’s Lyle Cameron struck a late effort from 20 yards but Andy Fisher tipped the ball over the crossbar. Saints will be the happier of the two teams with the result, based on the balance of play.
Yet the Dundee manager, Tony Docherty, conveyed his relief. Dundee have not won since beating St Johnstone at the start of January: “We’ve stopped the rot and we’ve picked up a point, but it maybe should’ve been three.”
His counterpart, Simo Valakari, said: “One of our issues has been in these games, when we cannot win, we have lost it. Overall, an OK away performance.”
Kieran Phillips was the hero in Ross County’s narrow 1-0 win over Kilmarnock in Dingwall. The victory moves County up to eighth, within one point of Hearts and two points of Motherwell and the top six.
