Glasgow Rangers bounced back to winning way after two straight defeats in all competitions with a 2-0 win over St. Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday.
Who scored in Rangers’ win over St. Johnstone?
Brazilian centre-forward Danilo was given the nod through the middle of the pitch as the starting number nine ahead of Nigeria international Cyriel Dessers and certainly proved his worth in the 16th minute.
James Tavernier produced a perfect cross from the right flank and the summer signing from Feyenoord found the back of the net with a brave header, which resulted in him needing to be substituted due to a fractured cheekbone.
Substitute Rabbi Matondo then sealed the three points in the second half as Tom Lawrence sent him through on goal to slot the ball into the bottom corner to make it 2-0.
How good was Danilo against St. Johnstone?
Whilst Danilo may get the plaudits for his excellent headed goal and the bravery shown to risk an injury in order to find the back of the net, Michael Beale‘s shining light throughout the match was Belgian central midfielder Nicolas Raskin.
The former Standard Liege star was outstanding in midfield and made his presence felt with important contributions at both ends of the pitch for the Light Blues.
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Danilo’s game in numbers vs St. Johnstone |
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7 touches |
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50% duels won |
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67% pass accurary |
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7.3 Sofascore rating |
As shown in the table above, Danilo did not have enough time on the pitch to make a major impact outside of his goal, whereas Raskin was a consistently impressive figure during the fixture.
How good was Nicolas Raskin against St. Johnstone?
Defensively, the 5 foot 10 star won ten of his 16 duels (62.5%) and that included nine of his 13 battles on the ground, which resulted in four tackles won for the central midfielder, as per Sofascore.
Evidently, the 22-year-old was a solid force in midfield for the Scottish giants and was able to dominate the opposition from a physical perspective.
The £1.7m signing also caught the eye with his play on the ball. As per Sofascore, Raskin, who recorded a rating of 7.7, completed an impressive 94% of his attempted passes and 100% of his dribbles (3/3) to go along with one chance created for his teammates.
His dribbling ability was vital for the second goal as the talented gem skillfully glided past a challenge with his quick feet in the middle of the park in order to tee up Lawrence to thread the ball through for Matondo’s goal.
He only gave possession away eight times from 84 touches of the ball, which was once every 10.5 touches on average. Whereas, for example, James Tavernier lost the ball once every 4.96 touches from right-back.
The Belgian talent clearly made an impact at both ends of the pitch and was important to what Rangers did on and off the ball, to help them score twice and keep a clean sheet to secure all three points after the international break.
Hopefully, the central midfielder will be able to carry this performance into the clash with Real Betis in the Europa League on Thursday night.
