Tavernier dedicates win to Bell and Smith

JAMES TAVERNIER dedicated Rangers’ 3-1 win over RB Leipzig to long-serving kitman Jimmy Bell who died earlier this week.

The Ibrox skipper opened the scoring in the famous victory to send Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men on their way to Seville.

And the Europa League’s top scorer is dreaming of surpassing the achievements of the class of 2008 by going onto lift the trophy in the Europa League final later this month.

“First and foremost we wanted to do it for Jimmy, and I’m super proud of the effort all the lads put in and all the staff and all the fans,” he told BT Sport.

“He will be looking down proud – so will Walter [Smith] on all of us – it’s for them. I’m absolutely delighted.

“We are through the final. Unbelievable.

“We didn’t want them to score tonight. But at the end Lunny [John Lundstram] came up with the goods and got the winner.

“It was a tough test but an unbelievable feeling to be in a European final – it’s what you dream of.

“It was a dream start. I was in the same position as I was in the first leg. I just thought ‘I’m getting myself in here’.

“I didn’t know if I was going to be offside but I got the goal and it helped the boys. I’m just speechless.

“We wanted to come here with a result we could work with, which I thought we did. You could see in the first couple of minutes how we set out, the pressure and how we got in their faces, making it hard for them.

“The boys executed it to a tee. I’m buzzing.

“We will go there full of confidence. We have got into the final for a reason. It’s one game and we will give it everything like we did tonight.

“We want to win it. We are in this competition to win, we are a club that wins trophies and that’s what we want to do.”