Rangers vs Panathinaikos reaction

Football writer Graham Falk gives his reaction to Rangers win over Panathinaikos in the first leg of the Champions League qualifiers second round.

Transcript

00:00Full time here at Ibrox and it is a massive first leg win for Rangers over Panathinaikos.

00:07A game that for a large spell in the first 45 looked like it was ever so slightly dominated by the away side.

00:14Jack Butlin pulling off three fantastic saves before out of absolutely nowhere.

00:19Finley Curtis banging in a fantastic goal.

00:22A really mature performance from him tonight.

00:24Not everything came off in the first half for him, but he kept asking for the ball.

00:28I found his performance a really brave one and I think that's where the goals came from and it's thoroughly deserved.

00:34Shortly after that, a red card for Panathinaikos changed the game an awful lot and Rangers were able to get forward a lot more.

00:41Obviously the crowd was up as well and they were very much in the ascendancy at that point from the goal.

00:46And then just an absolutely brilliant dream debut moment from Jerry Gassama,

00:52who I think must have been his first touch, I'd have to clarify that.

00:54But he cuts in and just some show strike.

00:58It's a fantastic goal from him and his knee slide wasn't all that great, but I'm sure he'll have better celebrations in the bag.

01:05But ultimately a massive, massive win for Rangers in the Champions League qualifier.

01:09They head to Athens next week with a two goal advantage, which is, you know, a dangerous scoreline,

01:13but a really good scoreline to take there as well.

01:16They're back at Ibrox on Saturday for a pre-season friendly against Middlesbrough,

01:19but pretty much all eyes on Athens next week.

01:23A really big win for Russell Martin, who of course is taking charge of his first competitive game tonight.

01:28A little bit earlier than usual because of the qualifying round starting a little bit earlier for Rangers,

01:33but some really good performances from there.

01:35I thought Finlay Kurtz was outstanding.

01:37I thought Nicholas Raskin really grew into the game.

01:40And I felt like John Suter, you know, after a couple of sloppy passes, sorry, at the start,

01:46grew into the game as well.

01:48But ultimately it's going to be Gassama and Kurtz that take the headlines for two fantastic goals.

01:53But that's all from tonight.

01:54Just great info here from the Scotsman.

01:56All of the reaction is live on the Scotsman website just now.