Philippe Clement claims Rangers matched Lyon chance for chance, but the French club’s sharpshooters were the difference as they ruthlessly put Gers to the sword at Ibrox.
After an opening day Europa League win in Malmo, Clement and his players were given a harsh reminder that there are levels to this game as the Ligue 1 outfit displayed a breathtaking cutting edge to go in 3-1 up at the break. It could have been oh so different had Vaclav Cerny nit submitted a miss of the season contender before Malick Fofana opened the scoring.
Tom Lawrence showed him how it was done, but the visitors simply stepped it up as Alexander Lacazette re-established the lead before extending with an absolute stunner on the strike of half-time. Fofana put the game beyond the Light Blues ten minutes after the break and it could have been a wider margin closer Celtic’s in Dortmund.
But Clement was pleased that his men at least stacked up well on the attacking stats front – if not in the only one that mattered. he said: “With the scoreline, we don’t reward ourselves, clearly. We have 200 per cent chances, the first chances of the game but we need to kill them off. 1-0, 2-0, it turns into a totally different game.
“So we go behind by losing the ball in places that we cannot lose the ball. Our defending is not sharp enough.
‘We come back to 1-1, then we concede because we lose balls in our own half, so that’s very disappointing. Of course, Lyon can soak up and wait for transitions. They are a team with a lot of good players with technical qualities. In the second half, we tried to push to come back.
“At the end of the game, when you have the same amount of chances and the same numbers, but the scoreline is clear. That is the difference in quality and finishing.”
With eight games still to play, Clement accepted that an early defeated perhaps isn’t as damaging given the new Europa League format. But with Tottenham and Man Utd still to come, he knows points on the board will be worth their weight in gold if Rangers are to make it through.
He added: “Yeah, but we also know the reality in the group and the quality of players and transfers. We went full to win this game but against opponents of this type of quality, you need to take your moments. If you don;t take them, then you don;t deserve anything from the game.”