Glasgow Rangers secured a 2-2 draw against PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of their Champions League playoff round tie at Ibrox last night.
The result was a carbon copy of last years match as the sides shared the spoils in what was an end to end encounter in front of a typically raucous home crowd.
With a major financial boost on the line, Michael Beale, brought a few players back into the starting XI who had dropped to the bench for the League Cup win on Saturday, most notably Todd Cantwell and James Tavernier.
There was also a place on the bench for Rabbi Matondo, who shone against Greenock Morton, and he would go on to enjoy a solid cameo against the Dutch side.
Does Rabbi Matondo have a future at Rangers?
The Welsh winger scored no goals last term while grabbing just five assists, and it looked as though his time in Glasgow was going to be cut short.
Rangers Review journalist Euan Robertson said Matondo was their “bright spark” against Morton on the weekend, and he was perhaps unlucky to drop to the bench against PSV.
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His impact, however, was worth the wait. The tie was finely poised at 1-1 when the winger entered the fray with just over 20 minutes to go, injecting some much-needed pace into the Rangers attack.
He took four shots in total during his cameo while succeeding with four of his five dribbles and at one point, channelled his inner Lionel Messi to evade three defenders while dribbling into the box, but the move didn’t come to anything.
The 22-year-old also scored his first goal for the club after a stunning move, and it led Joshua Barrie to claim that “Matondo continues his redemption arc”, however, one of the finest players on the pitch was Cantwell.
How did Todd Cantwell perform vs PSV?
The former Norwich City maestro was sorely missed against Morton as the Gers lacked any sort of creativity throughout the midfield, but this was remedied last night.
The Englishman was deployed just behind Cyriel Dessers and Abdallah Sima in an attacking midfield role, and it proved to be a stroke of genius by Beale.
Despite taking just 41 touches during his time on the pitch, he made sure they all counted as he looked to link the midfield with the attack.
Cantwell succeeded with 100% of his dribbles while winning four out of his seven ground duels, suggesting that he used his physicality to good effect.
Barrie praised the 25-year-old at half-time for his contributions, saying:
“Despite that late goal, think Rangers still need to change something in possession/make the ball stick with the front two. Cantwell's been head and shoulders making something out of nothing on the ball with limited options.”
With some better defending, Rangers could have secured a famous win over the Eredivisie side, yet the performances of Matondo and Cantwell will have pleased Beale.
Does he stick or twist heading into the away leg?
With European group stage football guaranteed no matter the result, the manager will surely tell his team to go for the jugular in Eindhoven.
