Club Brugge pulverise 10-man Rangers to heap misery on Russell Martin

The Old Firm derby on Sunday will have Europa League teams. If Celtic have deep regrets over misfires in Kazakhstan, Rangers endured a night of near-historic shame in Belgium, utterly incapable of recovering from the first‑leg performance. By contrast to this horror show, that night of blunder was a creditable showing. Russell Martin’s team made it so simple for an admittedly high-class Brugge side.

On Martin the jury is out, his winless start to the domestic season followed by this nightmare. The former Southampton manager’s stewardship is in grave danger after 10 games in charge. The response of the club’s new 49ers ownership, for whom Martin was the first managerial appointment, is keenly awaited. The depths to which Rangers plunged, particularly in the first half, made a mockery of his continued self-belief, his proclamations that his is the only way forward.

Martin’s team selection was, he said, custom-designed to reduce the two‑goal deficit from Ibrox. Leaving Nico Raskin, James Tavernier and Cyriel Dessers on the bench was a decision open to a different interpretation. Hamza Igamane was absent, presumably headed for Lille.

Brugge attempted to finish the tie as soon as possible. It proved all too easy. Carlos Forbs’s run and Jayden Meghoma’s early bookable offence was an early warning sign unheeded. In the fifth minute, Nicolò Tresoldi nodded in after a statuesque Rangers defence allowed an overlapping Joaquin Seys to cross from the left.

To compound early disaster came high farce when Max Aarons found himself out of position. His solution? To haul back Christos Tzolis, Brugge’s dangerman, for an indisputable straight red. Martin sent on Tavernier, attempting to stop the bloodletting with the patient already long dead.

Rangers’ misery piles up as Hans Vanaken scores. Photograph: Soccrates Images/Getty Images

Brugge ruthlessly turned the screw, Tzolis striking the woodwork via Jack Butland’s fingertips. The Rangers goalkeeper was left unprotected as Hans Vanaken, the veteran, nodded in Tzolis’s header, then struck the woodwork with a volley as the onslaught continued. Seys made it three on another overlap, then scored a fourth, unmarked at the back post. Aleksandar Stankovic’s header made it five, the defensive no-show continuing.

For all the dreadfulness of Rangers, Brugge showed off much to augment the growing reputation of Belgian club football with the quality of their attacking, echoing their decent showing in last season’s group stage and knockouts. Martin made three half-time changes, including Raskin’s introduction. “Everyone needs to be ready,” he had said pre-match. The starting team had included eight summer signings made under the new manager. Those second‑half arrivals would have to share in the shame. Tzolis, understandably coveted across Europe, soon scored the sixth, seizing on Tresoldi’s showboat backheel. Just as in the first half, Rangers were a goal down after five minutes of the second.

Historic disgrace approached. The club‑record European defeats, 6-0 against Real Madrid in 1960, 7-1 by Liverpool in 2022, were in danger of being surpassed, Martin’s players appearing incapable of avoiding such ignominy or protecting their own reputations. Relief from being the worst of all nights lay only in Brugge stepping off the pace rather than any Rangers improvement.