Rangers' Aribo, Balogun feature in highest-scoring two-legged tie since rebranding of Europa League

Published: February 26, 2021

Nigeria internationals Joe Aribo and Leon Balogun were part of history on Thursday night as Rangers defeated Royal Antwerp to progress to the last 16 of the Europa League.

According to the statisticians at OPTA, the 9-5 aggregate scoreline in favour of the Scottish Premiership side is the highest-scoring two-legged tie in the UEFA Cup/Europa League since Helsingborgs beat Heerenveen 8-6 in the first round of the UEFA Cup in 2007-2008.

Playing as a makeshift right-back for the third game in row, Leon Balogun played only the first half and central midfielder Aribo went the full ninety.

In an entertaining clash at Ibrox Stadium which ended 5-2, Colombia striker Alfredo Morelos was the star of the show, opening the scoring in the ninth minute before setting up two other goals early in the second half.

Rangers' other scorers were Nathan Patterson, Ryan Kent, Borna Barisic and Cedric Itten, with the last two goals netted from the penalty spot, while Lior Refaelov and Didier Lamkel Ze found the net for the Belgian side.

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard decided to replace Balogun at half-time as the defender was walking a disciplinary tightrope after he was yellow carded for a foul in the 36th minute.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : rangers.co.uk

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