Check kept me waiting for direction but I knew VAR in advance which way I was going
Super-cool Tav had picked perfect spot 24 hours early
JAMES TAVERNIER was made to wait an eternity to take the penalty that opened the floodgates on one of Rangers’ greatest ever European results.
But the super-cool Light Blues skipper admitted he’d known for 24 hours where he was going to stick the spot-kick if given the chance.
Tavernier set the ball rolling on a monumental night after VAR penalised hapless Dortmund defender Dan-Axel Zagadou for handling the Englishman’s cross in the box.
He kept his composure to send Gregor Kobel the wrong way after 36 minutes and open the door on a stunning victory in Dortmund that will have resonated round Europe.
Gio van Bronckhorst’s men tore apart their hosts’ tournament favourites tag to put one foot in the last 16 ahead of next week’s second leg in Glasgow.
And Tavernier said: “It was the wait for the VAR!
“I didn’t see the handball but when the ref blows you know something has happened. There was then a little bit of a wait until the whistle went.
“But I was calm when I took it, just happy to get the boys in the lead and give us something to build on.
“That’s why I practise on the training ground and make sure I execute them.
“I always know where I’m going to put it the day before – it’s just the way I go about things.”
Tavernier was just one of a team full of heroes for Gers on a night that will go down in the annals of Ibrox history.
He had his work cut out against classy Jude Bellingham and Raphael Guerreiro on the left but still managed to get forward and provided the delivery that Alfredo Morelos knocked home before a wellworked John Lundstram goal and a Zagadou OG sent Gers into dreamland. A late strike from Guerreiro means the tie isn’t quite dead though.
Tavernier said: “We are really happy with the result. We know it’s only halfway there so we can take the positives out of tonight.
“We’re a little bit disappointed to concede the two goals
because we put ourselves in a really good position.
“But overall we controlled the game as best we could and limited their chances. We were really effective on the break and got the goals. I’m really happy.
“All the boys performed well. Those who came on stabilised us to give us the platform we needed. I didn’t see the penalty but that’s the benefit of having VAR.
“It’s another set-piece goal as well. We have been working hard on them and it came through today and put us in a good position.
“The first part is done. We got the result we wanted to take back home. We’ve a lot of work to do next week but we’ve put ourselves in a really good position.”
Van Bronckhorst spoke of his pride in the performance of his players – and revealed he’d identified weaknesses in the starstudded Dortmund side after watching hours of footage.
Ryan Kent and Joe Aribo terrorised the German’s backline while Morelos produced a vintage European display to ruffle up veteran Mats Hummels and error-prone Zagadou who had a night to forget.
Van Bronckhorst said: “We worked hard to get the right gameplan. We watched a lot of Dortmund games and knew they were getting a lot of goals against them lately.
“We were prepared technically but more importantly, mentally. We had the right attitude today to getting a good result. It is a very good result for us against a quality team in Europe. “We wanted to take a result back with us to Glasgow. We achieved that with the two-goal difference. “I am really proud of the performance the players have shown. But we also know we are only halfway and there is still one game to be played. “To come and score four away goals in Europe is a very good achievement. I am more than happy for my players but also happy because we represented us really well as a club.”