Glasgow Rangers bounced back to winning ways in the Scottish Premiership by narrowly beating Hearts 1-0 at Ibrox on Sunday evening.
The Light Blues opened the scoring in the sixth minute of the match, through a bundled finish by Cyriel Dessers, and that was all it took to secure all three points.
It was far from a perfect performance from the Scottish giants, who tied with Hearts for ‘big chances’ created (2), but it was enough to claim the victory.
One player who caught the eye with his performance for Philippe Clement‘s side was central midfielder Nicolas Raskin, who was announced as the Player of the Match in the stadium.
Nicolas Raskin’s performance in numbers
The Belgian midfielder has enjoyed a run of games in midfield in recent weeks and his performance on Sunday evening showcased how much he is benefitting from that.
Raskin played the full 90 minutes at Ibrox and was constantly competing all over the park to win duels to help out his team defensively, whilst also making things tick in possession.
Vs Hearts | Nicolas Raskin |
|---|---|
Minutes played | 90 |
Pass accuracy | 85% |
Key passes | 0 |
Duels won | 11/15 |
Dribbles completed | 2/5 |
As you can see in the table above, the former Standard Liege star was incredibly combative for Rangers and won the majority of his duels in midfield.
He was also relatively reliable in possession of the ball, completing 85% of his attempted passes, but did not create a single chance for his teammates.
Raskin was not the only midfielder to impress in the middle of the park for the Light Blues, however, as Mohamed Diomande was also in fine form.
Mohamed Diomande’s performance in numbers
The Ivorian ace was selected in the number ten position, with Tom Lawrence sidelined with a thigh injury, and did enough to justify his place in the side with his display.
It was more industrious than you would typically expect from an attacking midfielder but he is far from a natural in that role, so it was to be expected.
Diomande helped Rangers to grind out the three points with his excellent work out of possession to constantly pressure and close down Hearts players when they had the ball.
The left-footed battler, who recorded a Sofascore rating of 7.4/10, won six of his ten ground duels and both of his aerial contests, which shows that he dominated opposition players on the ground and in the air in duels.
He made two tackles and one interception without being dribbled past a single time, and completed two of his three attempted dribbles, which shows that Diomande was as defensively impressive as Raskin was.
Meanwhile, the Ivorian dynamo completed 86% of his attempted passes and created three chances for his teammates, which shows that he tried to make things happen in the final third and was reliable in his use of the ball, albeit without being rewarded with an assist for his efforts.
Overall, Diomande and Raskin were both as impressive as each other in midfield and Clement will surely be happy with the dynamism his players showed in that area of the pitch.
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