Danilo eyes more improvement for Rangers after scoring first goal with new club

Brazilian striker Danilo insists there is more to come from Rangers as he basked in the glory of his first goal in the 4-0 home win over Livingston on Saturday.

Some pressure was on the Govan outfit after they lost their cinch Premiership opener at Kilmarnock last weekend but the afternoon started well, with Sam Lammers driving in the opener after 10 minutes.

After that, however, the home side found it tough to get past the well-organised Livi defence.

However, the increasing tension inside Ibrox was alleviated in the 78th minute when left-back Borna Barisic threw a cross to the back post and Danilo, the 24-year-old signed from Feyenoord, leapt to head past Lions goalkeeper Shamal George.

Rangers powered through the final stages and there were further goals from substitutes Abdallah Sima and Kieran Dowell which put gloss on the scoreline and set Rangers up for their Champions League third-round qualifier against Servette on Tuesday night, where they will try to defend a 2-1 lead from the first leg.

Danilo told RangersTV it was an “amazing” feeling to open his account for the Light Blues as he looked forward to further improvements.

He said: “We had a good impact from the Servette game and we showed again we are a really strong team.

“The lads played really well and we showed how good we can be.

“There are still things that we can improve on. The team is totally new but the more we play together the more we will get to know each other and get used to each other.

“We played really good and the boys who came on made a good impact to really help us to improve our game even more.

“It is great to see everyone is in good shape and wants to win, it is really good for us.”

Ranger boss Michael Beale revealed midfielder John Lundstram will not make the trip to Switzerland due to personal reasons.

Livi boss David Martindale thought the scoreline was a bit harsh on his side and noted the strength in depth of the Ibrox side, who brought on Rabbi Matondo, Dowell, Lundstram, Sima and debutant Dujon Sterling to great effect in the later stages of the game.

He said: “I thought Rangers’ substitutions really helped them. They brought a lot of pace and power on to the park. Look at Dowell’s finish.

“That really, really helped Rangers with the way they were playing, they started knocking it about and combinations and rotations were coming together more than earlier.”