Nsio, Danilo & Hagi amid massive night for Rangers | OneFootball

In our final part of today’s Stenhousemuir Trust Cup report, Rangers of course ran out easy winners v the lower-league side to book a place in the last 8 of the competition, but as we’ve been alluding to, there were a tonne of subplots in this one as well.

We’ve touched on Zak Lovelace’s appearance following injury, plus the presence of Rangers’ entire management staff on hand at Forthbank Stadium in Stirling, but the big theme of this one was just the level of the XI Malky Thomson selected.

In what might be one of the strongest B Team lineups we can remember seeing, Clinton Nsiala, Leon King, Bailey Rice, Zak Lovelace, Paul Nsio, Danilo, Ianis Hagi, and Finlay Curtis were the lion’s share of the lads that took the field, and by all accounts they all had strong nights.

The big headlines are about how both Hagi and Danilo scored, but for Ibrox Noise, the bigger deal was seeing the rising star of Paul Nsio continue to thrive at Rangers, standing out as he did last season in the cup final for the lads as well.

Lovelace too had a decent outing, and was saved for upcoming senior matches by being removed at half time, while the appearances for the likes of King, Nsiala and Rice can only help them.

As for Hagi and Danilo? They came through unscathed, and got a goal each which will help their confidence no end.

Danilo is the big deal here – he has barely had any first-team football since joining Rangers, just 23 appearances (11 starts) since joining in summer 2023, and the Brazilian will be absolutely desperate to finally start repaying his transfer fee by securing a run of games and a run of form.

Michael Beale paid a massive £6M for the ex-Feyenoord man, who had had an injury or two in his career before Rangers, and there were signs there that he was fragile.

Unfortunately it was a very misguided acquisition, and just shows how misguided Philippe Clement is that he also tried to sign him in a previous management job.

But seeing he and Hagi score and so many good positive signs from a seemingly-innocent B Team match is certainly a lively way to prepare for FCSB.