Van Bronckhorst focus on result over racism

GIOVANNI VAN BRONCKHORST will block out any potential racism fears as he focuses on seeing off Sparta Prague at Ibrox.

Rangers host the Czechs on matchday five in Group A knowing that a twogoal victory will see them qualify for the knockout rounds of the Europa League.

The first fixture between the teams earlier in the campaign was marred by the abuse directed towards midfielder Glen Kamara as he was targeted by the home support.

Sparta were ordered to play the game in front of 10,000 schoolchildren following racist incidents involving Monaco star Aurelien Tchouameni in August.

And Kamara was also the victim when Sparta’s city counterparts Slavia were winners at Ibrox last term as Ondrej Kudela was found guilty of racially abusing the Finnish internationalist.

The off-field incidents have added another layer of intrigue to a hugely significant European tie but Van Bronckhorst will only focus on the job in hand.

Van Bronckhorst said: “We have seen a lot of circumstances in the stands. Not only the games we have played against Prague, but you can see in football it’s definitely a thing we want to get rid of.

“But we also know it’s hard to get rid of. It’s still there but we have to be focused on the match and make sure we are performing well on the pitch and fully focused on the thing we want to do. And that’s win against Prague.”

Rangers head into the Group A fixture smarting after their defeat to Hibernian on Sunday that saw them miss out on a place in the Premier Sports Cup final.

The Prague clash begins a new era for the champions and Van Bronckhorst is determined to get off and running in style.

“Yes, of course,” Van Bronckhorst said when asked if he wanted to see a hunger from his players straight away. “Because we need it every game. You have to have that to achieve something, to win games.”