Anatomy of Jack Butland's penalty heroics - McGregor and movement

Knocking out his own teammate Robin Propper appeared to represent Butland’s fragile confidence and rash decision-making just a few days on from an awful error against Motherwell during a 2-1 defeat at Ibrox.

But his Europa League redemption arc started well before two brilliant penalty saves in last night’s win over Fenerbahce to set up a quarter-final tie with Athletic Bilbao. 

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Rangers needed a two-goal cushion on the night to support a performance well below last week’s standards. While plenty of conversation was passed on the fact that ‘it could have been 5-1’ in Istanbul had Cyriel Dessers’ starting position been milimetres deeper during two goals chopped off by VAR, by the same token last night’s game could equally have started on an equal footing.

Fenerbahce shaded the xG during the first-leg and Butland’s Goals Saved Above Average across the two ties was 1.47.

GSAA is defined as: “How many goals did the keeper save/concede versus expectation (post-shot xG faced)? This is representative of how many goals the goalkeeper's saves prevented within a season.”

In short, before we talk about penalties, the 32-year-old was the difference between an extra goal for Jose Mourinho’s side at the very least across the two legs. For comparison’s sake, opposite number Ifran Egribayat produced a more modest 0.15 GSAA across the tie.

Two stops stand out in particular. Butland's 90th minute save from Talisca in Istanbul last week, which had a 64 percent chance of finding the back of the net once it left the forward’s boot. And, deep into the second period of extra-time last night, an Akcicet effort from a similar area that would find the net 70 times out of 100 according to StatsBomb.

“I did plenty [of work on penalties] before the game last week, depending on who it would have been,” Butland told press in the mix zone post-match, with goalkeeper coach Allan McGregor no stranger to saving a penalty himself.

“I felt like I did a good job of predicting where people were going to go, but you still never know.  Dzeko's penalty was top, I thought I was going to get to that one, but it's what you work for.

“You need a bit of luck. I guess it was meant to be for us. I'm delighted for everyone. We fully deserved it over the two legs.”

Across the five spot-kicks, Butland was only sent the wrong way once - by Djiku who stuttered in his run up and called the goalkeepers bluff. That aside the Englishman guessed right every time, coming within an inch of Dzeko’s corner-bound shot and diving the right direction as Yandas sent the defining spot-kick high into the Copland Road stand.

It was only a few months ago that, despite scoring his own spot-kick, Butland was on the end of a painful penalty kicks defeat against Celtic at Hampden. On that day he was sent the wrong way on three occasions and only truly got close to one penalty, Arne Engles’ strike. 

A couple of details stood out in comparison to that shoot-out at Hampden by comparison. 

This time the former Stoke stopper appeared a far more mobile operator behind the line as his opponent approached the ball, especially ahead of his second save from Fred.

Dusan Tadic’s first penalty was arguably the defining moment in the shoot-out. By saving first, Butland took the pressure off his side and provided an immediate advantage. Only Ianis Hagi’s tame penalty would miss for Barry Ferguson’s men as James Tavernier, Vaclav Cerny and Tom Lawrence finished with real confidence. 

The deeper starting position assumed by Butland, in theory, shows its benefit most for the save from Tadic. While Butland dived to his left, he was able to hang out a leg and save the central shot by moving forward and springing towards the ball, rather than jumping from a standing start. Crucially, keeping one leg behind the line in the process.

Butland guessed right with a ‘striagher’ dive when facing Dzeko in the next round but the former Manchester City striker produced a strike even the best would struggle to save, nestling right into the side netting.

Djiku was the only Fenerbahçe player to stutter and call the goalkeeper’s bluff. With both parties waiting for the other to commit it was the taker who held the advantage and, for the only time in the shoot-out, an off-balance Butland guessed wrong.

Then came the key moment. Fred’s penalty gave the visitors a chance to go into the lead for the first time in the shootout and earn a real physiological edge just after a poor effort from Hagi which was pushed onto the post. 

As Fred started a deep run-up, so did Butland, almost touching the back of the net. 

The No.1 then, very intentionally, moved to his right-hand side in a manner we hadn’t seen during the previous three spot-kicks. Whether by design or a spontaneous confident move from a keeper who knew he had the edge, it called Fred’s kick.

The former Manchester United midfielder aimed for the very corner Butland had just vacated, who was ready to spring back across goal and tip what was a very well-placed penalty around the post. It was a moment worthy of winning a match like this.

Butland would guess right again as Yandas fired high over the bar but by this point, his job was done. Ibrox broke into a sense of bedlam rarely seen in recent years with Barry Ferguson making a beeline for his goalkeeper who, after a difficult period, stood tall for his side.