Malik Tillman’s first goal as a member of Rangers has sent the club one step closer to the Champions League group stage.
The U.S. men’s national team and on-loan Bayern Munich attacking prospect scored the eventual playoff-winning goal vs. Belgium’s Union Saint-Gilloise Tuesday, with the Scottish club coming back from a 2–0 first-leg deficit to win 3–0 in the second leg and advance on a 3–2 aggregate.
Tillman, who committed to the U.S. internationally after switching his allegiance from Germany in the spring, scored the winner with a back-post header in the 78th minute of a match both he and fellow versatile U.S. international James Sands started. The 20-year-old displayed his athleticism by rising high for Borna Barišić’s looping cross, sending the Ibrox into hysteria after his conversion.
Rangers held on for the victory from there and must get through one more two-legged qualifying playoff before it can cement its return to the competition proper for the first time since the 2010-11 season. It’ll face PSV Eindhoven in the final play-in round, with the Dutch side outlasting Monaco 4–3 on aggregate in a wild playoff of its own. Mexico’s Érick Gutiérrez scored an 89th-minute equalizer to force extra time, where Luuk de Jong netted the winner.
As for Tillman, his goal will certainly go over well at his new club, where he’ll spend this season, at least, as his loan from Bayern comes with a purchase option. He participated in his first U.S. camp this past June, appearing in a friendly vs. Morocco and a Concacaf Nations League match vs. Grenada.
