Yet more dropped points for Rangers in the Scottish Premiership, although, on this occasion, at least Barry Ferguson’s men didn’t lose.
On Sunday, the Gers seemed set for yet another defeat, 2-0 down against Aberdeen at Pittodrie and a man down too.
However, Hamza Igamane halved the deficit immediately after half time before, right at the death, after Cyriel Dessers had thwacked the post, Ianis Hagi curled home a stunning equaliser with, virtually, the last kick of the afternoon.
During Sky Sports’ coverage, Rangers legend Kris Boyd, rather jokingly, exclaimed that the title race is still on, with the Light Blues now 15 points behind Celtic with five games to go, albeit their goal difference is 42 inferior.
One player in particular came in for scathing criticism for his performance at Pittodrie.
Yet another Rangers red card
40 minutes into Sunday’s visit to Aberdeen, Ross McCausland was sent off for a second bookable offense, making a very rash challenge on Topi Keskinen.
This came just three days after Robin Pröpper was dismissed only 12 minutes into their Europa League quarter-final first leg against Athletic Club Bilbao, with Barry Ferguson’s side doing incredibly well to hold on for a goalless draw given the circumstances.
This is the Gers’ fifth red card of the campaign, after Jefté vs Dynamo Kyiv, Mohamed Diomandé vs Dundee United and Hagi vs St Johnstone, so let’s see how that compares to previous seasons.
As the table shows, one more sending off for Rangers this season would be their highest amount in a single campaign since 2018/19 when, mind-bogglingly, they collected 12, albeit five of which were brandished in the direction of a certain Alfredo Morelos.
2024/25
5
2023/24
5
2022/23
3
2021/22
4
2020/21
2
2019/20
4
2018/19
12
2017/18
6
2016/17
4
However, it was not the dismissed McCausland who came in for the most criticism on Sunday.
Rangers star must be dropped after early substitution
Fair to say, Danilo has not lived up to expectations since arriving at Rangers from Feyenoord two years ago.
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However, his display at Pittodrie must surely be one of his worst in red, white and blue, as these statistics outline.
Minutes
45
N/A
Shots
0
12th
Dribbles attempted
3
5th
Dribbles successful
0
N/A
Possession lost
9
14th
Duels lost
7
6th
SofaScore rating
6.5
23rd
The fact Danilo lost the ball nine times in just 45 minutes is very concerning, having no shots, successfully completing no dribbles, and winning only four of 11 duels.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Kris Boyd exclaimed, “Danilo. £5m… WOW!”, adding “some of these Rangers players should never be seen again”, labeling the team’s first half performance “lethargic” and “embarrassing”.
Danilo has so far scored just 12 goals in 43 Rangers appearances, which is even more concerning considering there have been 68 matches during this period that he has not featured in, either due to injury or simply because he hasn’t been selected.
Thus, Ferguson is not likely to give the Brazilian forward any minutes against Athletic Club at San Mamés on Thursday, and his days as a Rangers player might be numbered.
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