ROYALE Union Saint-Gilloise manager coach Karel Geraerts tonight pinpointed the penalty that Rangers were awarded just before half-time as the turning point in the Champions League third qualifying round second leg match at Hampden.
Geraerts, whose team held a two goal lead from the first leg in Leuven last week, felt that his side had performed well in the first-half despite the hostile reception they received from the home support at Ibrox.
The former Belgian internationalist thought that the double header swung in favour of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team when James Tavernier converted a spot kick after Siebe Van Der Heyden had handled inside his own area.
“Until that moment everything was under control,” he said. “We were aware of the first 20 minutes because everybody announced that they would start really hard. We controlled everything very well and just in front of half-time we give away a goal.
“The second half was the same scenario. We came out good and the second half gave the opponent more confidence and when you see the third goal there was a communication problem with the defence.
“I think the players managed the atmosphere really well mentally. Like I said they defended well, they were organised really well.
“In the last 10 minutes of the first-half we had the ball and Rangers had some easy losses. We might have made better choices to keep the ball and keep it away from our goal. But we didn’t do that well so that is a lesson for the future.
“We were not blown away here, but we gave them some goals today and that’s the difference between us and a team like Rangers which has the experience.”
Geraerts argued that his Union Saint-Gilloise side had blown the chance to progress to a play-off against PSV Eindhoven seven days ago by squandering their opportunities to net more goals in the first leg.
“It was lost last week for us because it was only 2-0 in the home game,” he said. “I think at that moment we played better and had chances to score a third goal.
“So we knew when we came to the away game in this great stadium with this magnificent crowd that it would be hard.
“We were very well organised, we didn’t give away chances and everything was close until just before half-time when there was an individual mistake from one of our players and the second-half was the same.
“I don’t think we gave too many chances to them, but we gave some opportunities away and against a team like this they have big qualities.”
