ALLY McCoist, performing co-commentary duties for host broadcaster TNT sports, was serenaded with a lusty rendition of Super Ally as he took his place in the Ibrox gantry before Rangers’ second Europa League league stage encounter with Lyon this evening.
How the home supporters must have wished they had a player with the same predatory instincts as the legendary striker, who was presented with an OBE by Prince William at Windsor Castle yesterday, once the game got underway.
Philippe Clement’s men squandered a glut of gilt-edged scoring opportunities against their French rivals and ended up paying a heavy price for their lack of ruthlessness up front.
Pierre Sage’s charges, meanwhile, had no difficulties whatsoever in that vital department.
Doubles from Malick Fofana and Alexandre Lacazette ensured that a Glasgow club suffered a heavy defeat in continental competition for the second time in the space of three days.
Here are five talking points from another desperately disappointing night for Scottish football
Cerny howler
This was a breathless, incident-packed, error-strewn stramash between two imperfect teams.
Rangers quite easily could have forged three ahead in the opening exchanges. Jefte went close after cutting in from the left and James Tavernier had an attempt saved by Lucas Perri.
Then Vaclav Cerny passed up a sitter after Perri had palmed a Lawrence effort to his feet in the Lyon penalty box. An open goal beckoned invitingly. All he had to do was get his shot on target. The Czech Republic internationalist somehow managed to fire over the crossbar. It was a miss which would have made Peter van Vossen or Filip Sebo blush.
The summer signing, who was visibly upset with supporters during the laboured Premiership victory over Hibernian on Sunday when they reacted angrily to his passback, will have rued his lack of ruthlessness just two minutes later when Fofana broke the deadlock.
Lawrence levelled from close range shortly after that. But too few Rangers players showed the same sort of composure in the final third. At this level, you really have to take your chances.
Barron shocker
Connor Barron has been one of Rangers’ most consistent performers during what has been a difficult campaign. The former Aberdeen midfielder has impressed fans with his energy and maturity. He obviously, though, has work to do to convince Scotland manager Steve Clarke he can contribute at international level.
The 22-year-old was called into the national set-up for the Nations League matches against Poland and Portugal last month. However, he was an unused substitute in those two Group A1 outings and was not included in the squad for the forthcoming encounters with Croatia and Portugal.
The perfect way for him to respond would have been to have a stormer in the Europa League and show that he can go toe-to-toe with somebody like former Chelsea and Manchester United man Nemanja Matic and hold his own. Unfortunately for him, though, he gifted Lyon their second goal.
His loose cross-field pass was easily intercepted by Fofana. The scorer of the opener charged upfield and turned supplier when he squared to Lacazette. Perhaps Clarke, who called up Andy Irving of West Ham, has a point about Barron. He has aspects of his game he can improve.
When Lacazette, the former Arsenal forward, lashed into the top right corner from the edge of the area in added-on time at the end of the first half it left Rangers facing an uphill task. Fofana wrapped up the three points when he got another in the second half.
Kings of Lyon
They say that you can tell the strength of a team by looking at its bench. So the Lyon replacements suggested the visitors would be formidable. Moussa Niakhate, Ernest Nuamah and Georges Mikautadze, a trio who were signed this summer for a cool €79m during a €140m spending spree, were all listed among the substitutes.
But the two-time Champions League semi-finalists are no longer the team they were back in the early 2000s when they dominated the French game and were a major force in Europe. They arrived in Govan on the back of an unconvincing spell of form with rumours of internal strife circulating.
Anthony Lopes, the Portuguese internationalist who has spent the past 13 years in goals at the Groupama Stadium, this week spoke about how he had been sidelined without any explanation.
So which Lyon, who got their Europa League campaign underway with a comfortable 2-0 win over Conference League champions Olympiacos at home, would turn up? Would it be the fallen greats with ambitions of reclaiming their former glories. Or would it be an outfit in disarray?
They were a bit of both. Defensively, they were far from infallible. But in attack they shone. Fofana looked capable of netting whenever he got on the ball, which was frequently, and Lacazette showed his undoubted class. Jack Butland kept the final scoreline semi-respectable.
Skipper hooked
When Clement replaced his captain Tavernier with Neraysho Kasanwirjo with 30 minutes of regulation time remaining it told a story. The right back had, his early chance aside, made little impact on proceedings. He was at fault for the third Lyon goal.
It would have been unthinkable for such an important player to be removed at such an early stage in the past.
Pyro plonkers
The reopening of the Copland Stand last month saw The Union Bears moved from the corner of the Broomloan Stand to a new spot just behind the goal.
The ultras group will not be there for very long if they continue to behave like they did this evening. They set off flares and fired rockets over the head of Butland as they unfurled a No Surrender banner during the first half.
Their irresponsible actions caught the attention of German referee Sven Jablonski, drew boos from their furious fellow supporters and are sure to result in another hefty UEFA fine.
Celtic have had no qualms about banning the Green Brigade for such misdemeanours in the past. Their city rivals should seriously consider following their lead. Such stupidity is highly dangerous and has no place in the Scottish game.
