Giovanni van Bronckhorst slams VAR penalty call and Alfredo Morelos hopes - Rangers Q&A in full

Here is everything he had to say.

What went wrong for the team?

A lot went wrong and we’re disappointed with our performance. We didn’t reach the levels we need to compete and that was the most disappointing thing for me. That has to change for next week because we lost. We have the possibility to change for next week. We’re going to play at home with a big crowd who always support us every game we play. But first of all, the performance has to change from what we showed today.

You produced some great performances at Ibrox on the run to Seville so that must give you confidence that you can do it again and overcome this result?

Of course it gives you confidence. But my feeling now is the disappointment of this game. You know what we did well last year was to bring a good result home with us - a narrow defeat, or a win or a draw. I think the most disappointing thing is the performance because we didn’t reach our level and that’s why we lost the game today My biggest task next week is to make sure we put in a much better performance than we showed today.

The players will be disappointed with that performance because we have seen they are capable of reaching higher levels. Was it down to attitude tonight? What was key for you?

We are competing to reach the group stages of the Champions League. That’s all you need. That’s all you need. The performance we had, if you have one or two players below their level they normally are maybe with the other eight you can change it on the pitch. But we had too many players who didn’t play and weren’t their usual self. We had a lot of transition moments defensively when we gave the ball away or they were sharper in getting the ball from one. I think one of the main reasons we didn’t get into the game. The basics of football. Everything has to be there to compete at Champions League level and we didn’t reach the level at all.

How important was that save from Jon McLaughlin because three goals down would have been a long way back?

Of course 3-0 it would have been a bigger task for us. It is two goals different, still the second game to be played, and I am sure the performance will be different next week. we are playing against a good opponent, if you see their last two years it is like a fairy tale and they are continuing their fairy tale. I want to be there with my players and the club competing for the Champions League group stage. that is our aim and what we want to overturn next week, but not the way we played today.

READ MORE: Did Giovanni van Bronckhorst overthink Rangers' Union Saint-Gilloise approach?

Is there any chance of Alfredo Morelos being ready to feature in the second leg and is that a realistic target for him?

Yeah I think that is realistic. He has been training with us for quite some time and he is getting better and sharper every day. We also have him in the UEFA list for this round so hopefully he will continue and he will be there next week. 

People will say that Jon should have done better for the first goal but you will still have faith in him after choosing him for a big game?

He is starting. So there is your answer.

Can you comment on Malik Tillman’s performance given that he is still new with the team?

He’s an amazing talent. He had involvement last year with Bayern Munich. He’s still very young and his level is very high. I’m really happy that he’s joined us this year and hopefully longer. I think Malik is a very exciting talent and I really like working with him. We need to improve him as well as a player but he has the chance to do that with us. You could see on Saturday and also tonight the quality he has. We keep pushing him to become a better player every day.

The penalty decision was a bit contentious. What were your thoughts on the VAR?

During the game, it went so fast that I missed it. But I saw the referee waiting and knew something had happened. When it went straight to VAR I knew it had to be a penalty decision, yes or no. When the referee goes to the screen then VAR thinks it’s a penalty. But I don’t know what the rules are. It looks like a really cheap penalty to me. I don’t know what we could have done. We try to block the shot, the ball rolls away from goal and hits Connor off the leg of Ben from maybe half a yard. I don’t know. I don’t know what the rules are but it’s cost us the second goal. But that’s not in my influence. I cannot affect the decision of VAR. It’s a big tournament with a lot at stake for a lot of clubs. You would expect they take the right decisions but I am more concerned today with the performance we had as a team. That’s my focus. What we have to do now is go 90 minutes and try and turn it around next week.