Update: I psyched out Man United star 18 months after I worked him out on training ground News

Jack Butland was the hero for Rangers in their Europa League shootout win over Fenerbahce last month, and the goalkeeper has now revealed how he psyched out Fred

Jack Butland has discussed using his brief loan stint at Manchester United to gain a psychological edge over a former team-mate. The ex-England goalkeeper, who was on loan from Crystal Palace during the last six months of the 2022-23 season, didn’t get to feature for United but later signed with Scottish powerhouses Rangers.

Despite not stepping onto the pitch for United, Butland’s practice sessions were crucial when he thwarted a penalty from his old team-mate Fred in March. The 32-year-old was between the sticks for Rangers as they faced off against Fred’s side, Fenerbahce, in a Europa League encounter at Ibrox.

Following a 3-3 aggregate score in the round of 16 tie, the match at Ibrox went to penalties. It was Butland who emerged as the saviour that evening, making a pivotal save to block the Brazilian’s attempt from the spot.

He has since mentioned how their shared time practising penalties in training at United was hugely beneficial in that instance. Sharing his delight over the save on former Red Devils stopper Ben Foster’s Fozcast podcast, Butland said: “You know what the feeling of saving a penalty is like – it’s amazing because no one expects you to.

“I saved the first one, and then with Fred, I knew what he was going to do. I looked at him as we’d had six months together at United. We must have practised penalties for the competitions that we were in every day for three months. I’d faced him a million times, and he does that stuttered run-up, and the minute he did it, I knew I had it.”

Foster then inquired if he believed Fred had experienced a similar flashback before taking the penalty, to which Butland replied: “I’d love to ask him. I didn’t get the chance to afterwards, but he was probably not in the best of moods.

“I saw him in the line-up, and I don’t know whether it just jogged his memory and he remembered my face. It jogged my memory as well because I’d faced him in training. He went, and he did the same routine that he did 18 months ago when we were practising.”

He added: “It was one of those where it was a nice height, and the minute it left his foot, I knew I had it. It was perfect and it couldn’t have gone any better that night.”

Despite his penalty save heroics, Butland found himself sidelined by Rangers manager Barry Ferguson for Thursday night’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Athletic Bilbao. Liam Kelly stepping into his place after recent errors by Butland in Scottish Premiership games.

With Kelly’s late penalty save securing a 0-0 draw for 10-man Rangers, despite Robin Propper’s early sending-off, the decision appeared justified. Ferguson later admitted that leaving Butland out was “one of the toughest things I’ve had to do”.

The player confided in Foster about the unique pressures of being Rangers’ first choice goalkeeper. He said: “Down in England, you can be at teams where things will go against you. You can have a bad day and you can lose but you can go back to normality after it. Here, it’s the end of the world, and you feel it.

“When you’ve been up here for long enough, and you understand what the club’s about, and you understand what the demands are and the expectations are, you feel it. You don’t need the fans to remind you – you know.

“You lose a game and you just want to get home, back indoors, and it’s like it is the end of the world. Plans are cancelled, rounds of golf are cancelled that were booked in. It’s not the right time because it means that much to the fans.”

While acknowledging the intense scrutiny he experiences at Ibrox, Butland described playing there as “special” and shared his eagerness for Rangers to bring their supporters some joy before the season closes.