It had been 12 years since Ibrox last hosted a Champions League group stage game and it seems they saved up all the drama during their absence for their return. Two penalties missed, one scored, a red card and a spot-kick overturned certainly made for an action-packed night.
But when the dust settled on a pulsating 90 minutes the eventful Group A clash against Napoli it left Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his players feeling the effects of yet another defeat. It was their third in a row and second in Europe's elite competition with seven goals now conceded in their two matches plus the four shipped at Celtic Park in that hat-trick of losses. 11-0.
Yet this performance was very different and if it hadn't been for a James Sands red card 10 minutes into the second half then it might have been different. Still, Rangers made the Italians wait even from the resulting penalty after the American's dismissal with Allan McGregor saving twice from Piotr Zielinski after a retake for encroachment. But Rangers couldn't hold out and Napoli converted a third penalty after Borna Barisic's handball before adding a further two goals. The match attracted plenty of attention around the continent with Napoli, top of Serie A, seriously looking like a force with which to be reckoned. Here is the reaction from some of the leading media outlets around the world.
Corriere dello Sport (Italy)
“Naples, concrete beauty,” said the Italian outlet before rightly raving about the fact the Serie A leaders are well on course to top Group A. “You are not in the lead in the Champions League and in the league by chance,” they said. But it was a pretty damning take on their “technically modest runners” hosts. They said: “In the historic Ibrox stadium, against a group of technically modest runners, Napoli has once again shown that they are a cut above their opponent. They have high hopes for what Luciano Spalletti’s men can achieve this season at home and abroad. For now let's enjoy this football show, beautiful enough to amaze, and concrete enough to withstand the pressure of an unparalleled audience, which truly supports the Scots as the extra man." And their report finished with praise for one man: “We close with a note of merit for the Scots goalkeeper, the 40-year-old McGregor who twice forced Zielinski to deal with a subtle, but never completely absorbed, character fragility. The saves of the two penalties are a masterpiece of intuition, but above all a test of psychological strength.”
De Telegraaf (Holland)
The result had an impact on Ajax who are also in the group and thrashed Gers 4-0 on match day one and the Dutch focused on that. “Rangers' intentions were very different from six days ago in the Johan Cruyff Arena,” they said. “The team then dug in enormously, now it was more threatening within 15 minutes than in 90 minutes against Ajax.”
Marca (Spain)
“The Italian team knew how to suffer and endure the local rush in the first half to wait for their moment in the second half after the expulsion of Sands 10 minutes into the second half madness. From that moment on, and despite Zielinski's two misses from the penalty spot ,the Neapolitans poured into the rival area and knew how to find gaps in the rival defence to take the win, finally comfortably. For its part, Rangers complicates its continuity in the top European competition, after not earning any points in two days and, what is worse, a very negative goal average with seven goals received and none in favour.”
L’Équipe (France)
“Napoli crush Glasgow Rangers in the Champions League, Tanguy Ndombele goalscorer,” screamed the headline with a nod to Les Bleus international. The respected French outlet spoke of a close contest in the first half before the turning point. They wrote: “Jostled in the first half, the Neapolitans overcame Glasgow Rangers (3- 0) in the second half, thanks in particular to numerical superiority. If the Gli Azzurri lacked sharpness in the first part of the match the facts of the game worked in their favour. American James Sands tackled Simeone late in the box shortly before the hour mark (55th) and received a second yellow card a few minutes after receiving the first.”
READ NEXT
