The Rangers faithful have had a right good laugh at Celtic’s Dortmund dismantling on the Hotline this week. But they’ve had the schadenfreude slapped out of them after being given a lesson by lethal Lyon.
It’s been a glum week for the Old Firm in Europe with both teams on the end of heavy defeats but the Celtic support were quick to bite back at their blue rivals after seeing Philippe Clement’s men ship four in the Europa League. Liam Birney, Paisley, said: “I wonder how Rangers fans are now feeling after their mass gloat session following Celtic’s defeat? Now they themselves have been humbled at home by a team sitting 11th in their own league and in UEFA’s second tier tournament. It’s not as if Lyon were in the Champions League final a couple of months ago!”
Eddie Easson, Fife, added: “Philip the Lip once again all mouth and no trousers. He gave it the big ‘this is what we’re going to do to them’ and once again his team of Prima Donna’s let the faithful down big style. These pages were full of it when Celtic got trashed by BVB on Tuesday. All we heard was how great they are in Europe. Well welcome to the losers’ table. Celtic will be eating steak, while Rangers make do with mince.”
Kenny Wilson, Moffat, emailed in: “Rangers fans were quite rightly laughing at Celtic getting thrashed by last season’s Champions League finalists but your own team have to follow that up. Getting thrashed at home to a team sitting 11th in the most one-sided league in Europe is certainly not the way. Lucky for them Lyon took the foot off the gas! But well done to Hearts at least we had one good result for Scottish football.”
Arrin Geddes, Irvine, said: “It’s good to see the Rangers did much better than Celtic in Europe this week. A credible 4-1 defeat at home to the team sitting 11th in Ligue 1. The Rangers fans must be well chuffed!”
But John Scott, Grassmoor, wasn’t in the mood for gloating as he said: “So our champions, with no credible challenge at home, are completely and utterly embarrassed in Europe. Their failure though isn’t just down to tactics. Its the inability to afford and attract the world’s best players to the Scottish Premiership.
“My generation have seen massive changes in the game since the inception of the FA Premier League in 1992. Billions poured into the English game has enabled clubs like Brentford and Bournemouth to get a foothold in the world’s richest league.
“Clubs no bigger than Hibs, Hearts or Aberdeen. One final thought: Bayern 0 Raith 1 at halftime, this month in 1995. That’s how far we’ve fallen behind.”
And Peter Lyons, Blantyre, said: “Let’s get a sense of realism here. It’s a sad indictment of where Scottish football is at the moment. Our two top teams aren’t anywhere near good enough to compete at this level. Yes, both teams will get the odd result in games they should win but please spare me the drivel coming out of any manager who is embarrassing themselves by using the XG and comments like ‘we did compete’.”
But Stephen Mulhern, Dumbarton, is backing Celtic to have the last laugh in Europe. He said: “The English tabloids and radio stations have been unsurprisingly putting the boot into Celtic’s performance in Dortmund, saying how embarrassing it is for Scottish football.
“That’s why the match at Villa Park can’t come quickly enough for me. Brendan Rodgers has the ideal opportunity to make amends and give back much needed credibility to the Scottish champions.”
Over at Ibrox, however, some fans are losing faith in the Rangers boss. Alan Milligan said: “I have serious concerns about Philipe Clement. He doesn’t seem to have any game plan or style of play. The team is full of lightweights and when you bring on Kieran Dowell and persist with a captain who is done, then you can only fear for the future under him.”