A number of Rangers fans were left raving over the performance of Gareth McAuley as he played for Northern Ireland against Austria on Sunday evening.
The Ibrox veteran’s national side slipped to a 2-1 defeat at home in a dead rubber of a Nations League clash, the visitors sealing victory in the final minute of added time after Northern Ireland had pegged the visitors back with an equaliser.
Despite defeat the Rangers faithful were pretty happy with what they saw from their centre back on Twitter, not least the moment when he got involved with West Ham’s Marko Arnautovic and appeared to lock his arm around the striker’s neck.
COMMENTARY
Rangers fans have not seen much of McAuley since his move as a free agent to Glasgow, so there would have been plenty of intrigue over how he would perform on the international stage on Sunday. It might have been a disappointing result but the defender can be pretty satisfied with his performance. Of course the moment that most fans noticed was his altercation with Arnautovic, and if the referee had properly spotted just what the centre back had done to his rival then it might have been an early end to his outing. Instead he escaped with just a booking and was able to see out the 90 minutes in what will be a boost for both player and club, who will want him getting as close to match fitness as possible with the busy festive period around the corner. This was a good run out for the centre back, but he just needs to be careful not to let his aggressiveness outshine his experience when push comes to shove.
This is Futbol has rounded up a selection of the supporters’ best tweets:
Safe to say McAuley can handle himself?
— Dougie ?? (@dougiethebear) November 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/JL_1973/status/1064225928497324032
https://twitter.com/LauraTorrancex/status/1064225935589806080
McAuley ragdolling Arnautovic ??
— lawson (@chrslwsn) November 18, 2018
Just saw that mate was class mcauley looked ragin?
— Raymond Hardie (@RHardie54) November 18, 2018
Gareth McAuley
Utter legend man sleeper holding players ?????
— John mcfaulds (@johnmcfaulds1) November 18, 2018
Oh Gareth McAuley ??
— Robert C (@RobertCullenCFC) November 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/Geddes1989/status/1064229564656828416
https://twitter.com/jaymcguinness1/status/1064229455625953281