Rangers were clearly second-best in Budapest as they suffered yet another Europa League defeat, with Ferencvaros boss Robbie Keane saying his side were much better and that Rangers didn’t even “deserve” the goal they scored.
Danny Rohl’s Rangers have now earned only one point from six league-stage games, and although they are not officially out, they would need a miracle to qualify with games against Ludogorets and Porto still to come.
Rangers actually went ahead when VAR overturned the decision to rule out Bojan Miovski’s acrobatic volley, but Ferencvaros responded with goals either side of half-time from Bence Otvos and Barnabas Varga.
Keane said it would have been “a tragedy” if his team didn’t win and insisted Ferencvaros were the better team from the start. He also questioned the VAR lines for the Rangers goal and stressed he wasn’t bothered about Rangers, only his own players.
For Rohl and Rangers, the biggest frustration was how poorly both goals were defended.
Otvos scored after a slick Ferencvaros move, but he was left completely unmarked.
Varga’s winner was worse: a simple long ball found Callum O’Dowda, who crossed for Varga while Emmanuel Fernandez turned away and lost track of the striker, allowing an easy header.
Rohl said he was “very angry” at the goals conceded but refused to blame Fernandez or any single player. He said the team showed good moments but weren’t clinical enough in key situations.
Former Rangers striker Billy Dodds was harsher, saying on TNT Sports that the Rangers defence was as bad as he’s seen all season — which is saying something given their many defensive mistakes this year.
Ferencvaros could have scored more, finishing with 13 shots inside the Rangers box. Striker Bamidele Yusuf missed several big chances and could have had a first-half hat-trick.
Rangers created very little. Miovski’s goal was their only real moment of quality, and their seven total shots was their lowest in a Europa League match this season.
Keane, joined by assistant Stephen Glass, said he expected Rangers to play three at the back but wasn’t concerned with them:
“We’ll always score. We were brilliant tonight.”
