Rangers Juninho Bacuna was in action for his national team tonight but it was a night to forget in the Middle East.
Hosts Bahrain recorded a 4-0 victory over Curacao, with three goals coming in the final 10 minutes.
It may seem a strange match-up for a small Caribbean island nation to travel all the way to the Gulf to play a friendly but such is the nature of international football, especially for smaller countries.
Curacao will travel home to face New Zealand in another friendly game on Saturday before a long-flight back to Glasgow for the man signed from Huddersfield.
Earlier tonight, Bacuna got a full game under his belt, but was helpless as his team fell to a heavy defeat against Bahrain.
He played amazing super skillful the only way bahrain players could stop him was fouling him and he didn't stop moving he was always running the game started 7pm in bahrain and it was 45 celcius am surprised he didn't get a heat stroke
— Curacao football news (@Curacaofootbal1) October 6, 2021
As above, a Curacao fan account described the Rangers man as “super skillful”, “always running the game” and causing problems for the opposition.
The minutes into his legs will be a positive for Rangers, coming after his cameo appearance against Hibs last week which followed a quad-complaint in Prague as the Dutch-born player was removed against Sparta during the first half of the 1-0 Europa League defeat.
At present Bacuna has got a foothold into the Rangers squad and he needs to capitalise on the opportunity.
If he is to appear more than a bit-part player, in a similar way to Bongani Zungu last season, then he must make an impact on the pitch in the coming weeks.