Karel Geraerts admitted Union Saint-Gilloise had already blown their Champions League probabilities earlier than even setting foot in Glasgow. The Belgians had been swept away by Gio van Bronckhorst’s ramped-up Rangers as targets from James Tavernier, Antonio Colak and Malik Tillman overturned final week’s limp loss in Leuven.
However Geraerts reckoned his workforce’s hopes had been already up in smoke after keeper Jon McLaughlin pulled off an important cease to stop striker Dante Vanzeir giving his facet an important 3-0 first-leg lead on the Den Dreef Stadion. Geraerts mentioned: “It was misplaced final week for us as a result of it was solely 2-0 within the dwelling sport.
“At that second we performed higher and had probabilities to attain a 3rd aim. So we knew once we got here to the away sport on this nice stadium with this magnificent crowd that it could be onerous. We had been very effectively organised I feel, we didn’t give away probabilities and every little thing was shut till simply earlier than half-time there was a person mistake from one in all our gamers and the second half was the identical. I don’t suppose we gave too many probabilities to them, however we gave some alternatives away and towards a workforce like this they've large qualities.”
Union seemed to be doing effectively of their bid to frustrate Gers till Siebe van der Heyden’s inexplicable handball simply earlier than half-time gave Tavernier the prospect to kick-start Gers’ rescue mission from the spot. That despatched the noise ranges hovering spherical Ibrox however Geraerts reckons it was Rangers European nous that made the distinction as a substitute of the pumped-up punters.
“Till that second every little thing was underneath management,” he mentioned when requested concerning the penalty incident. “We had been conscious of the primary 20 minutes as a result of everyone introduced that they'd begin actually onerous. We managed every little thing very effectively and simply in entrance of half-time we give away a aim.
“The second half was the identical state of affairs. We got here out good and the second half gave the opponent extra confidence and while you see the third aim there was a communication downside with the defence.
“I feel the gamers managed the ambiance very well mentally. Like I mentioned they defended effectively, they had been organised very well.
“Within the final 10 minutes of the primary half we had the ball and Rangers had some simple losses we would have made higher decisions to maintain the ball and maintain it away from our aim. However we didn’t do this effectively so that could be a lesson for the long run.
“We weren't blown away right here, however we gave them some targets at this time and that’s the distinction between us and a workforce like Rangers which has the expertise.”