Glasgow Rangers made it five wins in six matches in all competitions with a 2-0 win over St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership at Ibrox on Sunday night.
The Light Blues claimed all three points against the Saints thanks to two goals from Wolfsburg loanee Vaclav Cerny, who scored one goal either side of half-time.
Philippe Clement’s side did have to dig in to earn a clean sheet late on, however, as the returning Ianis Hagi was shown a straight red card for a studs-up challenge.
The Romania international made his first appearance for the club since an outing against Morton under Michael Beale in August of last season and had an eventful evening.
Ianis Hagi's performance in numbers
The playmaker started the match on the bench and was introduced in place of Ross McCausland at half-time, with Rangers winning 1-0 at the break.
He played out on the left flank but interchanged with Nedim Bajrami in the middle to create confusion at the back for the Saints defenders, and the midfielder was constantly looking to get on the ball.
Hagi completed 20 of his 25 passes and created two chances in just 36 minutes on the pitch before his, deserved, red card for a poor challenge.
One of the chances the 25-year-old maestro created turned into an assist for Cerny, as the Romanian star fizzed a brilliant pass into the forward in the box. He found a pocket of space on the left side and played a progressive, incisive, ball through for the winger to score.
However, Hagi was not the worst performer on the pitch for the Light Blues – despite his sending-off – as centre-forward Cyriel Dessers endured a difficult evening at Ibrox.
Cyriel Dessers' performance in numbers
The Nigeria international led the line from the start for the Scottish giants and ended the match, having been subbed off in the 60th minute, without a goal or an assist to show for his efforts.
Dessers had a glorious chance to find the back of the net in the first half as he found himself free in the box from James Tavernier’s corner, but his header went up and over the bar.
He also failed to create a single chance for his teammates in the game and earned himself a Sofascore rating of 6.4, which was – astonishingly – lower than Hagi’s 6.5, despite the midfielder’s red card.
Minutes played
60
Shots
1
Big chances missed
1
Touches
12
Passes completed
6
Duels won
2/6
As you can see in the table above, Dessers struggled to get involved in the match, as he had even fewer touches than goalkeeper Jack Butland (33) and was dominated in physical duels by the Saints defenders.
These statistics, and the ‘big chance’ that he missed, show that the experienced attacker did not have a positive impact on the match in his 60 minutes on the pitch.
Whereas, Hagi – despite being sent off – helped Rangers to claim the three points with an important assist to put the game to bed in his 36 minutes.
83% duels won: Rangers titan was even better than Cerny vs Saints
The Light Blues colossus enjoyed an impressive evening at Ibrox.
ByDan EmeryOct 7, 2024