Glasgow Rangers of Scotland defender, Leon Aderemi Balogun has come out with an emotional angle to his stunning goal against Arsenal of England in a pre-season friendly on Saturday, as he revealed that inspiration from playing in front of his club’s fans spurred him to enact the feat.
Although his headed home goal was only good enough o help The Gers seal a 2-2 draw with their visitors from London, the former Fortuna Düsseldorf, SV Darmstadt, Weder Bremen and SV Mainz 05 of Germany stopper admitted he was happy with his feat.
Megasportsarena.com reports that he went on to affirm his desire for more of such, especially in the main Scottish Premiership season coming up, during which he hinted that seeing the club’s fans in the stands would always motivate him to be on top of his game.
The Super Eagles’ star revealed as much after his sterling performance at Ibrox Stadium, where he made hay on Saturday in the 14th minute of his side’s pre-season friendly against Arsenal of England, and the Super Eagles’ star was thrilled all the way.
Balogun, who was replaced by Nathan Patterson after the break, flicked the ball superbly with his head back across the front of Arsenal’s Nigerian-born goalkeeper, Arthur Okonkwo and into the back of the net.
Balogun’s fellow-Super Eagles’ star, Joe Aribo was not picked for the game by Rangers’ coach, Steven Gerrard, as the stopper scored on an emotional evening at Ibrox, where The Gers twice threw away the lead to draw with Arsenal in a much-talked about friendly.
Balogun was in action for 46 minutes before he was substituted for Nathan Patterson, while Ghana’s Thomas Partey, Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Egypt’s Mohamed Elneny, Ivory Coast’s Nicolas Pepe and Okonkwo all started for Arsenal but were replaced in the second half.
Around 2,000 Gers fans returned to Govan Arena for the first time since coronavirus restrictions began in March 2020, and they cheered widely after Balogun opened scoring with a header from a James Tavernier corner.
Nuno Tavares, the Portuguese left-back signed from Benfica and making his Gunners debut, rifled in a leveler from close range on 22 minutes, before Aubameyang, who missed an earlier chance, headed a cross from Cedric Soares wide.
Rangers goalkeeper, Allan McGregor was then called into action to save from Nigerian-born youngster, Folarin Balogun, who is not related to Rangers’ Balogun but, after Jermain Defoe pulled up and limped off to be replaced by Scott Wright.
Later on, Rangers’ Nigerian-born defender, Calvin Bassey cleared a close-range shot from Aubameyang off the line, as the home side struggled for rhythm and maintained the tempo to keep themselves in the game, under intense pressure from The Gunners.
However, in the 83rd minute, Arsenal’s Ghanaian-born substitute Eddie Nketiah leveled from 10 yards out, after slack defending by the home side and, with the new SPL campaign and UEFA Champions League qualifiers looming, the injury to Defoe will perhaps be more of a worry.
Saturday’s result means Rangers have won just one, lost one and registered a draw in their three pre-season friendly fixtures and up next for Gerrard’s men is another pre-season outing against English Championship club, Blackpool on Wednesday.
That would provide another testing ground for Balogun, who extended his stay in Glasgow by another year in April and will begin his second campaign in Scotland on July 31 when Rangers host Livingston in the SPL.
Balogun took to social media after the game, as he admitted his delight in netting at his club’s home ground and he posted: Good to be back at Ibrox with fans and a goal – looking forward to more to come!”
