Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GIO VERSUS SMITH A TOP MATCH-UP..
Tonight, 7.45pm
IAN DURRANT says Gio van Bronckhorst’s Seville-bound stars against the Manchester class of 2008 would be the ultimate clash of Rangers styles.
The Ibrox icon would love to see the current crop of entertainers try to find a way past Walter Smith’s (inset) defence.
Rangers have shown there’s more than one way to reach a Euro final – 14 years apart. And there couldn’t be a bigger contrast in approach.
Durrant was on the coaching staff when a Rangers team stirred anti-football sentiment on the journey to face Zenit St Petersburg.
They scored five times in nine matches in the knockout phase which included that 2-0 loss to the Russians.
Since the turn of the year van Bronckhorst’s men have slammed six goals past Borussia Dortmund, netted four against Red Star and three in each thriller at home to Braga and Leipzig.
Durrant said: “In 2008 we parked all the buses we had. At times you thought the way the teams were attacking against us, if they got one goal then the scoreboard might’ve blown up.
“But we hung in there. We defended for our lives. And we managed to nick a goal here or there. It would be an interesting game between the two teams! I’d maybe still fancy us!
“They’ve certainly done it in a completely different way. Just watching them attack is frightening. This Rangers side is one of the best teams I’ve seen going forward.
“I was looking at the games last week involving Manchester City, Real Madrid and Liverpool. Rangers are equally good to watch, attacking-wise, in European games. I’d love to get a match-up with one of these virtual games and see how we’d get on against them.
“We had a great work ethic, as do these boys, but the present team score a lot more goals than we ever could. The number of attacking options is incredible, particularly with the full-backs.
“I’ve seen Rangers are top on most tackles, balls recovered, saves, completed passes. But they’ve certainly got that thing we had too – a great togetherness.”