Ianis Hagi was the last action hero at Pittodrie - but it could and really should have been Cyriel Dessers riding to Rangers’ rescue.
It’s clutch moments like the one that came right before the dramatic equaliser against Jimmy Thelin’s dazed Dons which make the Ibrox frontman such a divisive figure among fans.
Clean through on the keeper in the final minute with the chance to snatch a point for his team - those are the instances when you need to have ice in the veins and a clear mind.
The Nigerian strikes a nice ball at times but the missed chances are why fans are split on his place in the team.
There are times when the Nigerian resorts to power when a more refined touch is required.
And against Aberdeen you saw the result. With 96 minutes on the clock and only Ross Doohan to beat, he simply had to score.
Instead, Dessers slams against the post and for a horrid moment Barry Ferguson must have thought that was it for his patchwork line-up.
It took Hagi to show him how it’s done as he swept home with a classy finish to get Dessers off the hook.
And yet while that hurried miss very nearly cost Rangers at the weekend, I still think he’s the man to lead the line in Bilbao tomorrow night as Rangers take a swing at reaching the Europa League’s last four.
I argued last week in these pages that Barry should stick by Jack Butland in goal. The manager saw it differently and fair play, it proved to be the right decision with Liam Kelly making a vital penalty stop to ensure Rangers head to Spain with all to play for after a goalless opener.
Barry made a big alteration last week with his team selection but I don’t think he needs to make another this time.
Kelly has been criticised for letting Leighton Clarkson’s free-kick slip by him but I just thought it was a great strike, right in at the post. Liam had to cover a heck of a distance to even get a hand on it and was done by the pace on the ball.
I expect to see him back in goal at San Memes – just as I expect to see Dessers leading the line too.
As I said, he’s a guy who will always split opinion because of the sheer number of chances he misses … and yet, he’s approaching 50 goals inside two seasons.
Those numbers are mental given how erratic he is but I just think he’s a player who comes alive in the bigger games.
We’ve seen him score big efforts away from home against Betis, Manchester United and Fenerbahce.
He reminds me so much of Alfredo Morelos at times. There’s so also times where he scuffs his finish but it somehow manages to find a way into the corner of the net.
Maybe the goalie is expecting a clean strike but those awkward connections can sometimes be harder to stop.
But the real thing that impresses me about Dessers is that ability to shrug off the bad misses and ugly sitters.
I know plenty of players who would crumble after missing nine chances like he did the evening at Dundee a few weeks back - but there he was in stoppage time tucking home the hardest one of the lot to snatch victory.
He might lack the composure the Rangers faithful would want in a striker but he certainly possesses a remarkable resilience that allows him to come back for more. For me, it’s his superpower!
Imagine being off it for 90 minutes but having the ability to retain the self-belief that you can be the hero.
I’ve seen that trait before. When I went to America to join Charlotte FC, I played with an Argentinian lad called Enzo Copetti.
He would turn up on a Monday morning strutting about like he was one of the best players in the world when in actual fact he’d a shocker on a Saturday evening.
He had this delusional quality that allowed him to delete the performance from memory and walk into the changing room with his head held high, ready to go again.
And you know what, Rangers might need some of that themselves against Bilbao because they simply can’t allow themselves to get too downbeat when things go against them.
I didn’t think Athletic were all that great last week but they certainly dominated possession and will be a far tougher prospect on home soil.
But as we’ve seen time and time before, there is something about Thursday night’s which see this stuttering Rangers side spurt into life.
And I believe they can get a result that takes them through to the semis.
The team I play for that went all the way to Seville didn’t face this situation of having to win away from home in a second leg to progress.
But we did the year after when we edged out PSV in Eindhoven to reach the Champions League.
There were times when we had to be prepared to suffer, to let the Dutch side have 80 percent of the ball and defend for our lives.
It’s not a pleasant experience and it’s easy to feel you are under siege. That’s where you need your strength of mind and the belief that the chances will come.
Discipline will obviously be key too. Rangers certainly can’t afford a repeat of the lapses that saw Robin Propper and Ross McCausland both sent off this week.
The key to our victory at the Philips Stadion was the solidity of our structure and pressing at the right time. It took so much concentration that night. It’s OK if someone gets skinned but what you can’t have is two or three players following that up and jumping out of position.
That’s when you get killed by the top teams and Bilbao definitely have the players to exploit those situations.
But if Rangers - and Dessers - can keep the heid, I don’t think it’s delusional to suggest Ferguson’s side can turn Europa League fantasy into Rangers’ reality yet again.
