{"id":833904,"date":"2025-03-14T10:12:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T15:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/14\/europa-league-leon-balogun-lauds-rangers-goalkeeper-after-penalty-theatrics-against-mourinhos-fenerbahce\/"},"modified":"2025-03-14T10:12:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T15:12:34","slug":"europa-league-leon-balogun-lauds-rangers-goalkeeper-after-penalty-theatrics-against-mourinhos-fenerbahce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/14\/europa-league-leon-balogun-lauds-rangers-goalkeeper-after-penalty-theatrics-against-mourinhos-fenerbahce\/","title":{"rendered":"Europa League: Leon Balogun lauds Rangers goalkeeper after penalty theatrics against Mourinho\u2019s Fenerbahce"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soccer <\/p>\n

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Super Eagles and Rangers defender, Leon Aderemi Balogun<\/a>, was full of praise for his side\u2019s goalkeeper, Jack Butland, for an impressive display against Fenerbahce last night, Soccernet.ng<\/a> reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 36-year-old veteran defender played a vital role in the two-legged tie, replacing an injured Robin Propper in Turkey before putting in a great shift at Ibrox last night.<\/p>\n

However, it was Butland who turned up on the night in the penalty shootout after Rangers conceded two in regular time. The former Crystal Palace goalkeeper denied Fred and Dusan Tadic to send the Gers<\/a> to the quarter final of the Europa League.<\/p>\n

UK: Rangers v Aberdeen, at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland on 15 January 2025: Pictured: Leon Balogun Rangers heads home to make it 2-0. [Photo Credit\/ Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Get Our Sports News First \u2013\u00a0Join Our WhatsApp Channel Now!<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\n

Soccer What Balogun Said After Fenerbahce Win<\/strong><\/h2>\n

After the game, Balogun lauded Butland, revealing he prayed for the hand of God to be upon the 32-year-old.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI was praying for Jack, praying that God share some of his glory with him. He has done it. I\u2019m just happy for Jack. He really deserves it. He\u2019s a big character in the dressing room.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loves the club, cares about the boys and like I say it\u2019s great for him to have a moment like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough, we made it harder for ourselves than it had to be. We had a couple of good moments in the first half. We could have executed better like we did last week,\u201d the former Brighton and Hove Albion man said in quotes revealed by the Daily Record<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Leon Balogun during the Europa League match between Manchester United and Rangers at Old Trafford, Manchester, England on 23 January 2025.
[Photo Credit\/ Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u201cWe suffered out there. You all saw it, but we dug in, stuck together and ground it out. It\u2019s a great moment for Jack. He was outstanding last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have all been up and down this season and for him to come up with that display, he had a few big saves in the game too, was massive. So happy days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to take it as it is. We did the groundwork last week and knew it was going to be tough today,\u201d Balogun concluded.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

23rd January 2025. Leon Balogun of Rangers during the UEFA Europa League match at Old Trafford, Manchester. [Photo Credit\/ Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rangers<\/a> will now face Spanish La Liga side, Athletic Bilbao, in the UEFA Europa League quarter finals. The first leg will be played at Ibrox on April 10, while the second leg will be played on the 17th of April at Estadio San Mames in Spain.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Soccer\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tAdefolahan Guerreiro\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t<\/h3>\n

\n\t\t\t\tAdefolahan is a multilingual journalist and writer at Soccernet Nigeria.<\/p>\n

With a track record of involvement in College sports, Adefolahan is focused on crafting engaging football content and utilising his language skills and extensive sports knowledge to enhance content accessibility for a global audience.<\/p>\n

He has interviewed Nigerian stars like Finidi George, Junior Lokosa, and Abraham Onahi Ogbu.\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>Adefolahan Guerreiro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soccer Super Eagles and Rangers defender, Leon Aderemi Balogun, was full of praise for his side\u2019s goalkeeper, Jack Butland, for an impressive display against Fenerbahce last night, Soccernet.ng reports. The 36-year-old veteran defender played a vital role in the two-legged tie, replacing an injured Robin Propper in Turkey before putting in a great shift at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":833905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38270,4702,2005],"tags":[62518,7607],"class_list":{"0":"post-833904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-europa","8":"category-league","9":"category-soccer","10":"tag-europa","11":"tag-league"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}