National media tears into Jefte in Rangers win v Fenerbahce | OneFootball

Rangers booked a place in the Europa League quarterfinal after beating Fenerbahce on a penalty shoot-out at Ibrox on Thursday night.

The Gers were leading 3-1 from the first leg, but they couldn’t replicate a similar performance in front of the home crowd. In the end, a heroic effort from Jack Butland sent Rangers through to the last eight.

Poland midfielder Sebastian Szymanski scored twice on either side of halftime to take the game into extra time. Vaclav Cerny was the Rangers’ main threat throughout the game, but the other players couldn’t match the required level of performance.

One Rangers player who was really poor on the night was Jefte. The left-back was lucky when he caught Talisca on the line of the penalty box. The Daily Record gave him a 5/10 rating, and the Scottish Sun also gave him a similar rating and described him as a “villain”.

The Scottish Sun wrote: “Lucky when caught Talisca on line of penalty box but fellow Brazilian was booked for dive instead. Villain at second goal when went to ground and failed to stop ball in. Subbed in formation change. 5.”

Jefte has been a key player for the Rangers this season, but his defensive abilities have been questioned occasionally.

Cerny and James Tavernier came close to scoring in the extra time, but they just couldn’t find the finishing boots.

Tavernier, Cerny and Tom Lawrence converted for the Bears in the shootout, and they will now face Athletic Bilbao in the last eight after the Spanish outfit defeated Roma.

For the first time in their history, Rangers have lost four games in a row at Ibrox, but the joy of reaching the quarterfinals has masked the problem for the time being.

This has been a disastrous campaign for Rangers domestically, but European competition has been their only positive.