Credit; Imago

Chris Smith

Tue 12 August 2025 22:26, UK

Rangers beat Viktoria Plzen 4-2 on aggregate to reach the Champions League play-off round, but the tie was not without its complications.

Tavernier starts: Rangers predicted XI to face Viktoria Plzen	Butland solid, 4/10 flops - Rangers player ratings v Viktoria Plzen	Three winners and losers from Rangers’ loss to Viktoria Plzen

The Glasgow giants took a commanding 3-0 lead to the Czech Republic on Tuesday following an excellent performance at Ibrox last week.

However, Plzen dominated Rangers at the Doosan Arena, outshooting the visitors 27-9 to the tune of 3.31-1.15 expected goals.

Rangers lost 2-1 on the night, but it could have been much worse without the heroic efforts of goalkeeper Jack Butland.

One Rangers player coming under fire for his performance on Tuesday is left-back Jefte.

The Brazilian failed to cover himself in glory for both Plzen goals, very nearly costing his side a place against Club Brugge in the next round.

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Sports writer Michael McEwen — who has penned several books on Scottish football and is a Rangers fan — described Jefte as ‘an unspeakably bad footballer’ on X in reaction to his showing against Plzen.

The 21-year-old has recently been linked with a return to Brazil with Palmeiras (Daily Record, 11 August), and some supporters are now urging the club to make that deal happen.

The backlash against Jefte was particularly intense in the comments section of Rangers’ official X account, especially when posting about Plzen’s first goal — where Jefte was beaten and fell flat on his face in the build-up to Rafiu Durosinmi’s strike.



It’s been a tough start to life at Rangers for Russell Martin (Credit: Hasan Karim, Breaking Media)

While he didn’t name any names, manager Russell Martin could see for himself that Rangers’ defending was not up to scratch on Tuesday.

“If we are not as clean with the ball as we should be, we have to be more aggressive,” he said after the match (BBC).

“We have a lot to work on, but we’re through.

Both goals are outrageous, and we have to defend better, but we defend more than we should have because we are sloppy with the ball.”

OpponentResultCompetitionViktoria Plzen (A)2-1 LChampions LeagueDundee (H)1-1 DScottish PremiershipViktoria Plzen (H)3-0 WChampions LeagueMotherwell (A)1-1 DScottish PremiershipPanathinaikos (A)1-1 DChampions LeaguePanathinaikos (H)2-0 WChampions LeagueRangers’ record under Russell Martin so far

While the new Rangers boss can’t exactly be classed as ‘under pressure’ this early into his reign, the early signs have been worrying.

The Gers have drawn both of their opening Scottish Premiership matches 1-1 against Motherwell and Dundee, already sitting four points behind Celtic.

What’s more, they have kept just two clean sheets from their six competitive matches under Martin’s management so far, only winning twice along the way.

Rangers’ Champions League progression so far has been a source of optimism, but Club Brugge present a monumental roadblock to the group stage.

And if things don’t improve domestically soon, Martin may well start feeling the heat.

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