Rangers‘ truly miserable European campaign continues, with their hopes of reaching the knockout stages now hanging by a thread.
On Thursday night, despite taking the lead through James Tavernier‘s spot-kick, the Gers were held to a 1-1 draw by ten-man Braga at Ibrox, with the Arsenalists equalising shortly after Rodrigo Zalazar had been sent off for headbutting Nicolas Raskin.
This ended a sequence of seven successive European defeats, the longest streak in the club’s entire history, but they will almost certainly need to beat Ferencváros, Ludogorets Razgrad and Porto to stand any chance of reaching the Europa League knockout stages, which isn’t particularly likely.
Having finished eighth in last year’s inaugural league phase, before reaching the quarter-finals, this quite the fall from grace.
Much of the blame lies at those at boardroom level, hence why chief executive Patrick Stewart and sporting director Kevin Thelwell were both sacked on Monday, much to the delight of many supporters.
Nevertheless, new manager Danny Röhl still has to build a cohesive team with the pieces he has been given, so which of Thelwell’s summer recruits did not impress on Thursday night?
Nasser Djiga at fault once again
The final Tuesday of the final international break of 2025 could prove to be a pivotal day in Rangers’ season.
Mere hours apart, one in Mount Florida and the other in well, Miami in actual Florida, both John Souttar and Derek Cornelius suffered long-term injuries that’ll see them sidelined until Christmas at least.
Thus, just as Röhl had found his first-choice centre-back pairing, he will continue to be without them going into the busiest period of the season, left with no choice but to keep picking Emmanuel Fernandez and Nasser Djiga, despite the continued poor performances of the latter.
Djiga was massively at fault for Braga’s crucial equaliser on Thursday night, completely misjudging a cross into the box which allowed Gabri Martínez to slot home.
The 23 year old joined Wolverhampton Wanderers from Crvena zvezda in January for a reported £10m, but barely featured for the Premier League side, suggesting why that might have been the case since making the loan move north of the border.
It did not start well for Djiga, sent off on his Premiership debut for tripping up Finlay Robertson as the Gers were held to a 1-1 draw by Dundee at Ibrox, before this inexplicable decision which allowed Romeo Vermant to score the first of Club Brugge’s nine goals in the Champions League play-off round.
Djiga, frankly, is costing Rangers points time and time again, which has to be a concern ahead of three winnable Premiership matches in a week against Falkirk, Dundee United and Kilmarnock, but which other starter from Thursday night may have just played himself out of contention?
Rangers summer signing who struggled vs Braga
Röhl made a couple of surprise selection decisions against Braga; Connor Barron came into midfield, while Max Aarons got the nod over Jayden Meghoma at left-back.
The Bournemouth loanee has been in and out the team all throughout the campaign, deployed in both full-back positions, but did not stake a claim for more regular minutes here.
The statistics document the Englishman’s tough night.
Aarons’ statistics vs Braga | ||
|---|---|---|
Stats | Aarons | Match rank |
Accurate passes | 26 | 13th |
Passing accuracy % | 76% | 12th |
Key passes | Zero | 10th |
Attempted crosses | 3 | 4th |
Accurate crosses | Zero | 7th |
Defensive actions | 3 | 16th |
Tackles won | 3 | 7th |
Interceptions | Zero | 12th |
Clearances | Zero | 19th |
Possession lost | 17 | 4th |
Touches | 59 | 6th |
SofaScore rating | 6.8 | 12th |
As the table documents, despite the fact only two Rangers players, namely Tavernier and Fernandez, had more touches of the ball than Aarons, he did very little with all this possession.
The full-back completed just 26 passes, fewer than Braga goalkeeper Lukáš Horníček, was accurate with zero crosses and turned over possession on 17 occasions.
Fair to say, the Rangers support have not been enamoured by Aarons from the very start.
Under Russell Martin, he was controversially starting Champions League qualifiers instead of long-standing captain Tavernier, which most fans were not on board with, especially when Aarons was sent off just eight minutes into their 6-0 annihilation at the hands of Club Brugge at Jan Breydelstadion.
More recently, Aarons has been asked to fill in on the left-side, which he can do, but does not suit him naturally, especially on the ball, having to play on his weaker side.
Thus, for upcoming Premiership matches, where Rangers will dominate possession, expect Röhl to recall Jayden Meghoma at left-back, even if he has been far from convincing either.
As for long-term, it would be no surprise to see both Aarons and Djiga return to their parents clubs in the new year, or at the end of the season at the very least.
Forget Djiga: Rohl must bin Rangers flop who lost the ball every 2 touches
Following Rangers’ 1-1 draw with Braga in the Europa League at Ibrox on Thursday, which flop must Danny Röhl axe who was even worse than Nasser Djiga?
