THE SQUIRM HAS TURNED

Excruciating embarrassment at Celtic has turned into Gers dishing out a Dortmund humiliation on one of club’s greatest nights ever

OUTPLAYED at Parkhead but dominant in Dortmund. What a turnaround it’s been for Rangers.

For me, it was a real team performance from Gio van Bronckhorst’s players and, as a unit, it’s the best I’ve seen of Rangers for a long, long time. It’s only two weeks since this side got ripped apart at Celtic Park. No one that night could have envisaged them getting a result in Germany given the way they crumbled against Ange Postecoglou’s side. But the response since has been impressive. Four wins, 14 goals scored and only two conceded. Gio couldn’t have asked for any better. Everyone was waiting to see what would happen after the derby disaster but from the first minute against Hearts they’ve been bang at it. It all cumulated in another astonishing performance against Der BVB. Sometimes it’s easy when you get a sore one like that Old Firm beating to shut up shop and hide from the flak. But fair play to Gio and his team, it looks like they’ve taken on the criticism and responded in exactly the right manner by showing how much they all want to play for Rangers. Before Thursday, I thought Rangers just had to make sure they came back still in the tie at the very least.

Dortmund may have been missing their main man Erling Haaland but they still had some team.

Mats Hummels is a World Cup winner, Marco Reus and Axel Witsel have 170 caps between them for Germany and Belgium respectively, while Jude Bellingham is already an England regular at 18. But wow. What a night! I played in the team that beat Lyon three-zip in France but Thursday is right up there among the best results Rangers have ever recorded on foreign soil. I don’t like to compare one win to another because let’s be honest, every win away in Europe is to be savoured.

But you also can’t ignore the scale of that victory in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Dortmund are a team that belong in the latter stages of the Champions League but I couldn’t believe what I was watching as Rangers blew them away on their own patch.

I was absolutely buzzing with the way they went about the whole evening.

It was a perfect night for the team and the only downer was the fact the Westfalenstadion wasn’t full to capacity.

I was in the side that lost there on penalties in 1999 but it was still a brilliant experience to run out in front of that Yellow Wall with the place packed. It was absolutely electric that night and I’m sure this squad would have loved to have sampled it too.

But no one can take away from the magnitude of what they have achieved. The Bundesliga is such a strong competition and whichever side you face, you know they will be packed with quality.

I’ve seen decent Rangers and Celtic teams go over there and struggle to lay a glove on German sides.

But what was so impressive was the way Rangers took the bull by the horns straight from kick-off. They made Dortmund squirm.

I remember going head to head with Lothar Matthaus in Munich when we played Bayern in the Champions League.

He was one of the biggest names about at the time, a World Cup-winning captain. I loved pitting my wits against guys like him.

There’s a famous picture of him losing the rag with me at the Olympiastadion that night. Now my German isn’t great so I’m not sure what he was saying but I knew I’d got under his skin.

I’d set out to make sure the night wasn’t comfortable for him and that’s what I saw in the Rangers midfield against Dortmund in the first leg.

It was a true team performance but I’ve got to single out three players.

Ryan Jack and Ryan Kent were brilliant but I’ve also got to give a special mention to John Lundstram.

Jack was unbelievable, controlling the tempo and dominating the Germans. Even though he’s been out for a year, you expect that of him.

Kent was superb too and it’s great to see him turning it on after a difficult season. But I was especially delighted to see big John score after a terrific performance. There have been plenty of people questioning him since he joined but boy did he answer them.

Dortmund’s goals were two decent finishes but his was just as good, caressing it into the bottom corner. That’s what he’s been brought to Rangers to do and hopefully there’s more of that to come.

Another next week would be nice for starters.

Gio and his team have taken on the criticism and responded in exactly the right manner