Nicolas Raskin is taking up more and more space at Glasgow Rangers. It has only been gaining momentum over the past few weeks.
Being captain for a match as special as the Old Firm derby between Rangers and Celtic is certainly not trivial. Especially when you’re only 23 years old and the accent of the pre-match speech is more reminiscent of the Liège hinterland than broken Scottish speaking. However, yesterday is good Nicolas Raskin who led Philippe Clement’s troops against the centuries-old enemy. Literally, with the captain’s armband, but also in the game.
After barely six minutes of play, the midfielder recovered the ball, leaned on a teammate, projected himself forward and handed the ball over with great finesse to Ianis Hagi, who finished with just as much class. A clear action which allowed the team to open the scoring and which highlighted Raskin’s rediscovered generosity.
The troubles finally behind him
The Rangers’ 3-0 victory for his very first captaincy will make him all the more happy after a very troubled last few months. Last season was one of the most difficult of his young career. Initially, it was a stubborn injury which deprived him of twelve of the twenty matches in the first part of the season.
The Liégeois took time to regain his performance: Philippe Clement only made him start five of the seventeen Premiership matches in the second half of the year. This season again, an injury made him wait until the end of September to make his first start.
In addition to these physical problems, Clement also mentioned the competition, far from being negligible in the heart of the game among the Rangers. Still, since his return at the end of September, Raskin appears transfigured. He has hardly left the team and is delivering great performances.
His 90 minutes with the armband around his arm against Celtic are the best illustration of this but should not allow other reference matches to be overlooked, such as his masterclass against Tottenham (1-1 split). “A few months ago, Nico was not ready to be captain, but he is taking steps forward” declared Philippe Clement. How can we explain such a resurrection?
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Perhaps more than other players, Nicolas Raskin needs to continue to reach full carburetion. The former Standard player needs to know that he has it in the engine to be able to push himself to the four corners of the field as he is used to. To be able to highlight his interventions full of personality and his hyperactive character. Especially since playing in a team that takes control of the game every week in Scotland also allows him to shine in possession phases.
A comeback which looks more than interesting for 2025. And which could, if he continues like this, allow him to knock on the door of the Red Devils. Never in his career has Raskin been called up to the national team. In fact, he was very far from it in recent months. But of the 53 players summoned by Domenico Tedesco since the start of his mandate, several of them did not display the same state of form and did not arrive with the same certainties.
