Leon Balogun made a late substitute appearance and helped Rangers see out a 2-1 win against Spanish giants Real Madrid, in their final pre-season friendly on Sunday at Ibrox.
With Rangers ahead Balogun was brought on with five minutes left as the Scottish champions emerged victors.
Balogun’s Nigerian teammate Joe Aribo was not included in the squad for the high profile friendly.
Madrid had on parade Marcelo, who was the skipper, Martin Odegaard, Lucas Vazquez, Luka Jovic and Isco.
The Laliga side had taken the lead as early as the eight minutes through Rodrigo.
Rangers would go on to have lots of chances with Ryan Kent smashing the crossbar from a couple of yards out and visiting keeper Andriy Lunin producing some special saves.
Steven Gerard’s men eventually drew level in the 55th minute thanks to their Zambian new signing Fashion Sakala.
Madrid were reduced to 10 men after Nacho was shown a second yellow in the 76th minute.
Rangers capitalized on the numerical advantage and scored on 77 minutes thanks to Cedric Itten after the Madrid defence failed to clear a set-piece.
7 Comments
He only came in 4 minutes to the end of the game, so how did he help Rangers beat Real Madrid?
Oyamilenu.
4 minutes to the end of the game is enough for a team like Real Madrid to turn the game around… Balogun came in to make sure the 2-1 lead by Rangers was locked down.
So, he actually helped his team to win. QED
Calvin Bassey also featured for Rangers, playing the last 30mins of the encounter.
And yet it was not reported. Then Tomorrow we will come and claim he chose another country ahead of Nigeria when we are not recognizing him adequately based on the quality he possesses as a player. The chase should begin now for that highly talented Rangers left-back Calvin Bassey since Jamilu Collins is not measuring up as a good match for Zaidu Sanusi in the left-back position. God Bless Nigeria.Super Eagles squad for Liberia & CAR to be submitted on August 21st 2021.Let’s wait and hope to see a good list from Eagles Gaffer Gernot Rohr.
Collins is not SE material at all Calvin basset is way ahead of him
Watch Bassey here guys!
https://youtu.be/uHxKy7sxV6A