Rangers apology for Lyon, pundit admits he ‘got it massively wrong’

Rangers have got a good chance of a result against Lyon at Ibrox after proving Ryan McGowan “massively wrong” against Malmo, the Australian admits.

The Livingston player said on PLZ Soccer on 2 October that the Light Blues will have taken a lot of confidence from their commanding 2-0 away win in Sweden last week into the 3 October clash with the Ligue 1 side.

McGowan had predicted on PLZ (25 September) Philippe Clement’s side would be in the game against Malmo but would lose to a pair of late goals to go down 2-0, but an excellent performance saw Nedim Bajrami and Ross McCausland score in a victory which could have been much heavier.

McGowan said (42m 30s): “Rangers will fancy their chances. I obviously got it massively wrong last week, so apologies for that, I didn’t think they’d get a result away, which they did.

“That will give them so much confidence going to Ibrox, and I think Rangers are very, very good in Europe.

“They have more of a counterattack, they’ve got the players to fit that, they can sort of have their backs against the wall and they don’t mind the dirty stuff in Europe.

“So I think they’ve got a good chance of getting something, but nonetheless it’s Lyon, they’ve got some very, very good players who can cause massive issues if they don’t get tight enough to them.”

Rangers defied expectations with Malmo win

The win in Malmo was arguably the most impressive performance of the campaign for Clement’s side so far, and but for some woeful finishing from the likes of Vaclav Cerny it would have been by a much greater scoreline.

Rangers may have a long way to go yet to bridge the gulf to Celtic domestically but despite ongoing uncertainty off the pitch the manager has done the only thing he could do after the miserable 3-0 Old Firm loss on 1 September by stringing together positive results.

It is four wins in four without conceding across all competitions since the defeat at Parkhead, and that will be put to the test with the visit of Lyon.

But if the Gers can come up with something similar to the Bajrami-inspired performance last week then a result is there for the taking.

After Celtic were hammered 7-1 by Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League it might even serve to narrow the gap between the Glasgow rivals psychologically to go out and get another good result in Europe, albeit in different competitions.

It will mean little if the Light Blues are beaten at Ibrox and falter in the Scottish Premiership but at present, with Ianis Hagi’s bizarre saga now resolved, there appears to be some welcome signs of a recovery at present for Clement and his side.

In other Rangers news, the Light Blues are engaged in multiple sets of contract talks with a breakthrough expected to be announced soon.

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