Breaking News:Rangers confirm the return of former player

Breaking News:Rangers confirm the return of former player

Rangers skipper James Tavernier says they can’t afford to dwell on their Champions League exit.

 

The Ibrox club crashed out of Europe’s top competition at the qualifying stage last night with a 3-1 aggregate defeat to Dynamo Kyiv. Philippe Clement’s side were reduced to 10 men when Jefte was harshly sent off before the Ukrainians scored two late goals. Tavernier admits it’s a body blow for Rangers to drop into the Europa League – especially off the back of a poor refereeing decision.

 

But the captain says it’s vital Clement’s players dust themselves down ahead of a Premier Sport Cup clash with St Johnstone on Saturday. They already trail Old Firm rivals Celtic in the Premiership and have now missed out on a potential £40 million Champions League jackpot after losing to the Ukrainians. Tavernier couldn’t hide his anger at the Jefte decision but said: “It’s obviously disappointing not to get the chance of another game to try and get into the Champions League.

“We’re still in Europe but the decision in the game changed the whole dynamic of the tie. We have to brush this off quickly because we’ve got another game at the weekend.

 

“There’s no time to mourn this. We’ll take the lessons from it, brush it off and go again. We all wanted to send the fans home happy tonight and get into the play-off round. But small details in games can have a big impact.

 

“We’ll look back on it, look at how we played and be critical of ourselves obviously. But even with 10 men we tried to push as much as we could. But as we pushed towards the end, it left opportunities for them.

 

“I thought in the first half we weren’t clinical enough. We kept asking questions of them but with 10 men, it’s tough against 11. We gave it everything out on the pitch but it’s just disappointing for the lads that we couldn’t make it happen.”

 

Tavernier tried to reason with ropey Italian referee Marco Guida after the controversial red card for Jefte. The Brazilian’s second yellow card didn’t look worthy of a foul, never mind a sending off and it gave Clement’s side a mountain to climb.

 

Tavernier admits he was stunned to see his team-mate walk at a crucial point in the game. He said: “I spoke to the ref as it happened and he tried to explain that it was an elbow in the face.

 

“But Jefte got up really early and I didn’t even think it was a free-kick. There’s no malice at all in the challenge.

 

“It was a 50/50 ball in the air and Jefte beat him. I don’t know how much contact there is. But obviously the decision made a huge difference.”