RANGERS U19s take a well-deserved win in their first home match of the UEFA Youth League group after a dominant 3-2 victory at Firhill this afternoon.
The Light Blues positively bounced back from last week’s defeat to Ajax in Amsterdam in their European campaign after claiming their first points in Glasgow.
The first two goals came in the first 45 with Mackenzie Strachan and Charlie Lindsay giving their side a 2-0 lead ahead of the break, with Nicolò Frustalupi’s side pulling two back in the second half before Robbie Ure delivered the third and final for the Gers.
It was a glorious autumnal afternoon in Maryhill today as the young Gers hosted their first group stage match of their UEFA Youth League campaign.
Jacob Pazikas was given the nod between the posts, behind a back four of Jack Harkness, Lewis MacKinnon, Connor Allan, and captain Robbie Fraser.
In midfield, Mackenzie Strachan was joined by Paul Nsio and Charlie Lindsay, with Zak Lovelace and Ross McCausland supplementing Robbie Ure in attack.
Before the kick-off, a minute’s silence was held to remember Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II who sadly passed away last week with both teams wearing black armbands throughout the game.
It was a lively start to the match, as McCallum’s team looked eager to make a quick impact in the early minutes of the game and bounce back from last week’s slim defeat.
Fraser and McCausland created early dangerous passages of play in the Italian final third, and it wasn’t long before the Light Blues began to settle into a dominating and aggressive rhythm within the Napoli half, with a clear intent on taking the lead.
With exactly ten minutes on the clock, Rangers delivered the much anticipated and well-deserved lead after a wonder strike from Strachan.
After being awarded a free-kick several yards outside the Napoli box, Lindsay floated in a deft cross towards a congested goal. Valerio Boffelli punched the effort away from goal, but it landed perfectly at the feet of Strachan who sent a ferocious volley straight into the back of the net from the edge of the box.
The young Gers built on this positive start to create further angst for the visitor's backline, and it was little surprise when Lovelace, who continued to be a thorn in the defending backline, linked up ever so well with his fellow attackers before sending a ferocious volley into the back of the Napoli net. However, the goal was disallowed after the linesman’s flag was agonisingly raised for offside.
Following this, both Allan and Lindsay had opportunities to double the lead for the hosts, but the keeper did incredibly well to block their efforts.
At the other end, Dylan De Pasquale looked to make a run towards Pazikas in goals, but MacKinnon was on hand to safely intercept the danger to put Rangers on the attack once more.
Napoli quickly looked to cut the deficit with Enrico Giannini swinging the ball into the Rangers box to meet the head of Alessandro Spavone placed between the two posts, but his effort drifted over the crossbar.
With just over ten minutes of the first half left, McCallum’s side secured their second of the afternoon from Lindsay to double their lead.
After a superb run down the right side from Harkness, the youngster was able to fight off several defenders to work his way towards the front post.
The versatile defender made an angled and cultured switch to play the ball to an unmarked and on running Lindsay who calmly tapped his effort past Boffelli.
Rangers were on top form and full of energy as they looked hungry to further increase their lead before the end of the first half.
Ure looked to be the one to do so after finding the ball on the edge of the visitor’s box, the youngster took a lovely first touch to send a powerful strike towards the goal, but it painfully rattled off the post.
As the two teams returned for the second half, Napoli looked quickly to rectify the score line and take something from the match.
Spavone began to cause issues as he successfully broke past the Rangers defence, but Fraser chased down the attacker to intercept the early threat and redirect the danger.
However, the visitors were able to get a goal back on the 57th minute to close the deficit after Enrico Giannini slotted the ball past Pazikas from within the Rangers box.
Rangers reacted quickly to this and looked to get back into a dominant possession. In form youngster, Ure, was again amongst the action in the Napoli final third after he sent a sensational strike from the edge of the box directly into the top corner of the Italian net.
The young Gers carried that paced level of intensity in the latter stages of the second half, but Napoli managed to pull another back to close the gap further after a scrappy fight to see the ball into the back of the net.
Leonardo Rossi pushed towards the goal and clashed with MacKinnon who looked to intercept; however, the striker was able to get a foot to the ball to narrowly send it over the line before the referee’s whistle blew for full time.
RANGERS: Pazikas, Harkness, MacKinnon, Allan, Fraser, Strachan, Nsio (Allen, 70), Lindsay (Rice, 81), McCausland (Graham, 83), Ure (Young, 83), Lovelace (Stevens, 70)
SUBS: Halliwell, K. Ewen
NAPOLI: Boffelli, Barba, Giannini, Acampa, Pontillo, D’Avino, Spavone, Gioielli, Pesce, Laccarino, De Pasquale
SUBS: Turi, Hysaj, Susko Daniels, Lettera, Russo, Marranzino, Rossi
REFEREE: Kristoffer Hagenes
ASSISTANT REFEREE: Anders Olav Dale and Oyestein Ytterland
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Calum Scott
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