'Did the jersey proud': Rangers hero shows 'soul' as Scott McTominay's teammate stars in statement win

The Ibrox midfielder was a late substitute in last week’s first-leg as the Belgians fell a shock 3-1 loss, but was handed a full senior international debut by head coach Rudi Garcia in Genk as they staged a stunning second leg recovery at the Cegeka Arena, where they earned a 4-3 aggregate win thanks to goals from Maxim De Cuyper (70) and a brace from Napoli striker Romelu Lukaku (75, 86).

The spectacular late comeback tops off a superb couple of weeks for the 24-year-old, who has given a series of impressive displays in the Rangers engine room since the turn of the year, including in a man of the match performance in the recent 3-2 win over Old Firm rivals Celtic, where he opened the scoring with a well placed header. The Liege born midfielder has also been pivotal in the Light Blues march to the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

Replacing Aston Villa playmaker Youri Tielemans in the starting XI for Belgium, Raskin made a positive impact in his 89 minutes on the pitch, completing the most passes (75) in the match, making a 91% of his passes accurately and winning 80% of his ground duels before he was replaced by Bryan Heynen as the game ticked into injury time.

The result retains The Red Devils place in the tip division of the Nations League, and French head coach Garcia believes the statement victory will ‘lay foundations’ for the future, as he urged his side to believe in their undoubtedly quality and bounce back from a testing campaign which saw them lose five of their eight games in the competition.

“I expected this response from my group,” said Garcia. “They showed pride and pride. Belgium MUST be in Group A. “There's a soul in this team. I love this Genk stadium. The 20,000 supporters helped the team. We did the jersey proud. My job is to instil that confidence back into them and remind them that they have the potential to be a great team

"I gave them confidence by telling them that they are individually and collectively quality players. I have also learned a little Dutch and said it in Dutch in the dressing room: 'We did it'. A good foundation has now been laid.

"I think we can get far with that. We are now starting the World Cup qualifiers to win all the games, so that we do not have to work in the play-offs of March 2026. Everyone knows the qualities of De Bruyne and Lukaku. They are the leaders of the team. Tonight they were very good in their roles.

"Everyone was good. Doku made sure that we could be dangerous in the opponent's penalty area. The achievement of everyone must be emphasised and not just that of our leaders. But the leaders played their role and that is very important for a coach."