Rangers players admit to frustration with how match panned out at RB Leipzig

Rangers captain James Tavernier expressed his irritation at the way they conceded the 85th minute goal by RB Leipzig’s Angelino in Germany on Thursday night.

LEIPZIG, GERMANY - APRIL 28: Joe Aribo of Rangers is challenged by Tyler Adams and Josko Gvardiol of RB Leipzig during the UEFA Europa League Semi Final Leg One match between RB Leipzig and Rangers at Football Arena Leipzig on April 28, 2022 in Leipzig, Germany. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

Tavernier was left to rue his team’s poor marking at the corner kick which led to the only goal of the Europa League semi-final, first leg but has promised Rangers will come flying out of the traps at Ibrox next week as they look to turn the tie around and reach next month’s final in Seville.

“I thought we were solid throughout the game,” said Tavernier. “We limited their chances. We conceded off a set piece where our organisation wasn’t good. It was a great strike but we could have prevented it.

“So we are disappointed in that but we know that at 1-0 down going to Ibrox, we are still well in the game.

“We know what we can produce back at home with our fans right behind us.

“Away from home, we wanted to take a good result back to Ibrox. It’s only 1-0, we know we are more capable of bringing this in our favour.

“We know we can be better going forward. We still created a couple of chances tonight.

“Next week, we will hopefully have more players coming back from injury so we will be stronger.

“We are going to be fully at it from the first whistle, we are going to try and score as many goals as possible and try to keep the ball out of our net. We defended well tonight but a set piece let us down.”

Rangers midfielder Joe Aribo, who was deployed in a ‘false nine’ role in Leipzig, echoed Tavernier’s frustration

“The boys are disappointed in the end that we couldn’t see the game out,” said Aribo. “But there’s still a big second leg to come and where better than Ibrox.

“We came here to stay compact and make it hard for them to break through us. We did that for most parts of the game. They didn’t have many chances.

“It’s all about concentration and hard work. I’m happy to play anywhere. First of all, I’m just happy to be out there on the pitch. We wanted to get higher up the pitch and be a threat.

“We had a few half chances but just didn’t get the break of the ball.”