Proud Van Bronckhorst calls on Rangers to summon same spirit for Leipzig challenge
GIOVANNI VAN BRONCKHORST has challenged Rangers to replicate their Old Firm showing and grab the chance to make Europa League history at Ibrox.
The champions suffered another blow to their Premiership title defence as Celtic held out for a share of the spoils in the final Old Firm clash of the season.
Fashion Sakala’s second-half strike gave Rangers hope of victory as Van Bronckhorst’s side got back on level terms following Jota’s opener at Parkhead.
But there was to be no late winner for the visitors and Celtic are on the brink of title glory after preserving their six-point advantage at the top of the table.
Rangers will now turn their attentions to the semi-final second leg with RB Leipzig as they attempt to secure a spot in the Europa League final against Frankfurt or West Ham United.
Van Bronckhorst has urged his side to dig deep once again despite seeing an encouraging derby display only rewarded with a draw.
“Of course we are disappointed with the draw,” he said. “We knew we had to win here to close the gap to three points.
“That is one feeling I have. The other feeling is that
I am really proud of our performance and I couldn’t ask more from my players and what they gave today.
“We pushed hard to try and win this. In the second half, we came back into the game and pushed hard in the last 15 minutes to try and win it, with a lot of risk.
“I think the belief and the intentions were there and the chances we had were big chances but we had to score them. There were moments in this game where we could get more than one point.
“I think we showed how strong we are physically and also mentally to come back from 1-0 down and get back in the game and created good chances to win.
“I am really happy with our performance and it is the same that we need on Thursday.”
Rangers head into their date
with destiny against Leipzig knowing that only a win will do as they bid to overcome a narrow defeat in Germany and clinch a place in Seville this month.
The champions have once again flown the flag for Scottish football throughout a memorable European campaign as Borussia Dortmund, Red Star Belgrade and Braga have been beaten.
Their exploits in Europe have taken a toll on the Ibrox squad but Van Bronckhorst knows his side will give their all as the home crowd bids to inspire them to another huge result on Thursday night.
“It is a demanding week physically and also very demanding for every player and the whole staff but we keep on going and Thursday is a big night,” he said.
“We can reach the final in Seville, which is of course what we want. That is why we work hard in the next coming days to be well prepared.
“We have to prepare well. We had a good performance today. Physically we looked strong as well. Now we have three days to prepare ourselves for Leipzig at home where we can reach a final in Europe.
“We are going to prepare like we always do and make sure we have the same intentions and the same character we showed today because we will need that on Thursday.”