RANGERS reached the semi-finals of the Europa League with a performance that will be fawned over for years to come as they defeated Braga 3-1 at Ibrox to progress 3-2 on aggregate.
James Tavernier netted a first-half double before David Carmo’s header sent the match to extra time. T
he Light Blues regained the momentum though when Kemar Roofe tapped home the winner and the Portuguese side ended the match with nine men following two red cards.
Using StatsBomb data, The Rangers Review brings you a unique look back at events on a famous night at Ibrox.
Trendline and Game Stats
The stats make for quite incredible reading. Unlike the cagey first leg when Braga and Rangers posted xGs of 0.56 and 0.72 respectively, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men were a different animal at home. Their xG of 6.48 is a Europa League knockout stage record and tells a story of superiority and domination. They limited Braga to very little but the headed goal from Carmo was the only real defensive lapse in an otherwise exceptional performance.
It's hard to believe this was Rangers in a Europa League quarter-final.
Shot Maps
If we delve deeper into the efforts on goal we get a true sense of just how impressive Rangers were. From 30 attempts, excluding the penalty, they scored just twice but it really should’ve been more. Kemar Roofe struck the crossbar while Scott Arfield passed up two glorious chances to kill the tie in extra time. Braga, on the other hand, were limited to six attempts on goal and only one came inside the area. It just happened to be their only goal of the game.
If we take a closer look at the goals themselves, Tavernier’s opener set the tone for the evening and it was a finish straight out of the top drawer.
When Joe Aribo flicked the ball onto the skipper the xG was recorded as 0.28, however, when he struck it, it jumped to 0.72 which tells you how well it was executed.
Tavernier’s post-match interview was interesting when asked about his opening goal he said: “I found myself at the back post and my thought was to try and get it on target.
“I was watching the Leicester game before and saw a PSV player take a shot from a similar position.
“I thought he could have slid and had a shot. My idea was to slide and get it on target. That gave us a good start.”
Roofe’s extra-time winner was a well-worked move and it was a goal the former Leeds United man deserved given his overall contribution and the fact he had a goal ruled out for VAR and one for offside.
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He couldn’t miss to be fair but the hard work had been carried out prior thanks to Glen Kamara and Aribo who laid the ball on a plate for assist number two.
Interestingly, if we analyse Roofe’s contribution in greater detail, he made 33 pressures totalling 24.7 seconds and caused Braga to lose the ball a whopping NINE times. It was the quintessential centre forward performance and here’s hoping for more of the same going forward.
Pass Networks
Again, this gives us an indication of just how one-sided this match was. Everyone in a blue jersey was heavily involved and just look how high up the pitch Calvin Bassey and Connor Goldson were for the majority of the match. Tavernier and Borna Barisic provided great width and were constantly pushing forward which posed all manner of problems for Braga.
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Their Passing Network tells you they were simply blown away and as the stats highlighted above, they made a total of 231 completed passes compared to Rangers’ 776.
If it was a boxing match it would’ve resulted in an early stoppage.
Conclusion
This was a special night at Ibrox and one that will live long in the memory. Rangers were superfluous and shown, once again, they are a match for anyone in Europe.
On that showing they will fancy their chances of not only beating RB Leipzig but going all the way and lifting the Europa League trophy.
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