‘Taken back’: Rangers player admits he was very shocked when Giovani van Bronckhorst started him against Liverpool

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Rangers suffered their third Champions League defeat on the bounce last night against Liverpool.

A 2-0 defeat at Anfield now puts their chances of staying in Europe in serious doubt.

Speaking after the game to RangersTV, Leon King gave his verdict on the match.

King admitted he was shocked when Giovani van Bronckhorst told him he was playing against Liverpool.

The 18-year-old defender has featured in all three of Rangers’ Champions League matches.

However, it was the centre-back’s first-ever start in Europe, picked as part of a back-three to deal with Liverpool’s impressive forward line.

Rangers struggled to cope, and were bailed out on a number of occasions by goalkeeper Allan McGregor, who played sensationally.

King was up against Darwin Nunez most of the night, and didn’t have the worst game against the physical Uruguayan.

However, King was guilty of giving away a penalty for an unnecessary foul on Luis Diaz.

King ‘taken back’ he played against Liverpool

After the match, King said: “It was amazing. I was a wee bit taken back to be fair but when we get back to Glasgow and chill out a little bit I’ll look back on it and still be buzzing.”

The Scotland under-21 international made his Rangers debut towards the end of last season.

Van Bronckhorst’s side brought in Ben Davies and John Souttar to boost their centre-back options.

Davies finally started a game at Anfield last night, despite being on Liverpool’s books for 18 months.

However, with Calvin Bassey, Jack Simpson and Leon Balogun all leaving in the summer, a space opened up for a defender.

King looks to be Van Bronckhorst’s chosen replacement, and will be buoyed to have played in such a massive game.

The Reds make the trip to Ibrox next week as the frantic Champions League schedule continues.

King will be hoping to start again against Liverpool, although this time it shouldn’t come as a surprise.