Benfica defender Antonio Silva has insisted that controlling Rangers’ crossing played a key role in his team winning at Ibrox on Thursday night.
Rangers came into the second leg of their Europa League last 16 tie at home with hope after drawing the first leg in Portugal 2-2 last week.
However, Benfica limited Rangers to very few chances and scored in the second half to win the tie 3-2 and progress to the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Silva insisted that Rangers have some very strong players in their team who can attack crosses inside the box and therefore, limiting those dangerous balls inside the penalty box was key to winning the game.
He admitted that Benfica were less of an attacking threat in the first half but believes after the break they showed more quality and scored the goal they wanted.
The centre-back was quoted as saying by Portuguese daily Record: “Above all, we controlled the crosses.
“Rangers are a team that put in a lot of crosses, but we did really well when it came to controlling the crosses inside our penalty area because they had strong players who entered the box a lot.
“Then it was about making the right decision in the final third.
“In the first half, we made mistakes and had less possession in attack, but in the second half we showed more quality and then we scored the goal, which was needed.”
Rangers will now focus on winning the Scottish Premiership and the Scottish Cup to complete a domestic treble this season.
