Rangers secured a 1-0 win against Feyenoord in their Europa League opener on Thursday thanks to Seyi Ojo’s cracker of a goal in the 24th minute.
However, the Scottish Premiership giants could have found themselves ahead 14 minutes earlier.
The Light Blues were awarded a penalty after Feyenoord defender Edgar Ie handed the ball inside the box, and skipper James Tavernier stepped up to take the awarded spot-kick.
However, the Rangers star could only hit the upright after firing wide.
Tavernier also failed to score from the spot against Progres Niederkorn during the first-leg of their Europa League qualifiers, and manager Steven Gerrard has decided that it’s up to the right-back to choose to continue being Rangers’ designated kicker or give the responsibility to someone else.
“That won’t be the last penalty James misses. But I guarantee that he’ll score an awful lot more as well. That’s the way it is. Tav hardly misses a game or a training session. That shows the mental strength of a player. He’s very robust,” Gerrard told Football Scotland.
“I’ll have a chat with him about penalties because that’s two on the spin and I need to get a feel for where he is with it now. But in terms of belief, James is a big player for us. To be a match-winner from right-back is very unusual but he’s won us many a game with a moment of brilliance. That’s been from open play, free-kicks or penalties. Penalty takers miss penalties. That’s how it is, probably unless you’re Harry Kane at the minute.
“You see quite a few misses these days. I’ll ask James if he’s confident that he’ll score the next one and does he want to take it. Then we’ll deal with the situation from there. I can’t see him saying no but you’ll know when we get our next one. He’s still got a good record so it will boil down to him, what’s in him.”
Thankfully for Rangers, both misses didn’t cost them, but they can’t afford to keep failing to convert them going forward as it could prove costly.
While Tavernier remains a quality kicker, there are the likes of Alfredo Morelos who can also score regularly from the spot, and it will be interesting to see what the skipper decides to do when next Rangers are awarded another penalty.
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