Benfica’s 3-3 draw against Rangers in the Europa League last night is the main topic in the Portuguese sports media today, with Eagles’ striker Darwin Nunez making it to the front pages.
The Lisbon side were on the edge of a disaster when losing 3-1 to Steven Gerrard’s, and their heroic efforts to equalise with ten men is what makes the result look so good for them.
Now what did the local press think of Rangers? Here are the ratings from newspapers A Bola and Record, while O Jogo chose to evaluate the away side with a short text.
A Bola, who use ratings from 0 to 10, criticises the Ibrox side’s defence, giving Filip Helander a 3 and Connor Goldson a 4. Goalkeeper Allan McGregor didn’t do great either, getting a 5. Meanwhile, they really praise Glen Kamara and Alfredo Morelos, both with a 7.
Helander’s performance is also smashed by Record, who use ratings from 0 to 5. They give the defender a 1, and the only one who gets close to that is Scott Arfield, who was brought on in the second half and got a 2.
Record praises the performances from James Tavernier, Borna Barisic, Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos, with all of them getting a 4.
To summarise Rangers’ performance, O Jogo writes:
“Without needing any great brilliance, Rangers made the Eagles tremble as a result of a fast attack, with emphasis on Morelos and Kent, but with a fullback that was often assumed as a winger: Tavernier. The Scots captain had two goals and only failed to celebrate the triumph because the defence Rangers ended up sinning, with greater responsibilities for the centre-backs.”
