TAKING THE BULL BY THE HORNS
Gio’s ready to join elite band of Rangers bosses who reached Euro finals
AS a veteran of world football’s biggest stages, Giovanni van Bronckhorst is not awestruck by the magnitude of what lies in front of Rangers this evening.
He talks instead of feeling inspired. Of daring to dream. The further his team has gone in the Europa League, the more determined he’s become to transform an already remarkable run into something truly special.
Van Bronckhorst knows a chance to join an ‘elite’ now beckons for him and his players. It’s a moment of inescapable rarity. No-one can say when it might next come around for the Ibrox club.
Only four Rangers teams have ever reached a European final — from a continental involvement stretching back to 1956. To become No 5, a 1-0 first-leg deficit against RB Leipzig must be overcome.
It all comes down to 90 minutes — or maybe 120 — within an atmosphere carrying an additional emotional charge following the sudden death of iconic kitman Jimmy Bell. Come tonight’s 8pm kick-off, the stadium will be engulfed in sense-scrambling noise.
You could argue that this is as big a match as Ibrox has staged for half-a-century.
In 2008, the UEFA Cup semi-final visit of Fiorentina was a first leg. Fifteen years earlier, Rangers were no longer in control of their destiny by the time Club Brugge visited at the end of an unforgettable Champions League campaign. As a game in Govan with so much European glory there to be grasped, the 1972 Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich is a better comparison.
Rangers won that second leg 2-0. A similar scoreline against German opposition would be a perfect conclusion this time around.
Asked if he’d had a chance to think of just how close Rangers were to a monumental feat, Van Bronckhorst said: ‘Well, of course. You have goals in your career as a player and as a coach. You want to achieve great things and you dream of coaching teams in finals.
‘You have that as a player, you have that as a coach and that gives you the drive to keep going.
‘We are one step away from reaching the final so we are getting closer and closer. You know, our European campaign this year has been great and we want to make sure we extend that to the final.’
Only three names feature on the list of managers to have taken charge of Rangers in one of Europe’s showpiece games.
Scot Symon couldn’t grasp the Cup Winners’ Cup in the 1961 or 1967 finals, but Willie Waddell did so five years later. Then, of course, came Manchester in 2008 and defeat for Walter Smith’s oddsdefying side against Zenit St Petersburg.
After just six months in charge, Van Bronckhorst could add his own name beside those greats. The Dutchman stresses, however, that collective achievement will always be his primary motivation.
‘No, I am not thinking about any personal goals (in that list),’ he added. ‘I am thinking about being successful with the club. For me, the club is the most important thing now.
‘There are not many times that the team has played in a final in Europe so hopefully we’ll be joining a very elite group.
‘That’s all that matters. We are all here to bring success and bring trophies to this beautiful club. That’s always my main target.’
It’s one aided by the Ibrox factor. Already 4-2 up from the last-32 first leg, Rangers would have beaten Borussia Dortmund again on home soil but for a dubious VAR call ruling out an Alfredo Morelos goal. In the end, a 2-2 draw more than sufficed.
Red Star Belgrade were then blitzed 3-0 at Ibrox before last month’s 3-1 extra-time win over Braga wiped out a one-goal loss in Portugal. Now the heat will be applied to Leipzig’s gifted squad.
‘Of course we all have the same goal and that is to reach the final,’ continued Van Bronckhorst. ‘My players, my staff, we all do the best we can to be prepared.
‘I think the fans are always important for us at home and they are a big factor in the atmosphere.
‘It will be the same and we are going to have a noisy night — a noisy night when we need to overcome this opponent. It will be emotional but we will be ready when the whistle goes.’
In recent times, Rangers have stayed in that mode until the final whistle, whenever it might sound.
Going 120 minutes against Braga and Celtic last month maintained hope of silverware in Europe and at home. Even last Sunday, Rangers
You want to achieve great things and you have goals in your career
belied their draining fixture schedule by finishing stronger in a 1-1 draw at Parkhead. Van Bronckhorst (left) yesterday hailed the character of this squad as the best he’s known in management. Their fitness has been no less admirable. Another extended outing this evening wouldn’t hold many fears. ‘Physically we have been good,’ said the Ibrox boss. ‘Of course we missed some players due to injuries, but also physically a lot comes from your mental strength and we have that. Every game we have played in the last weeks has been big against very good opponents but we were there every game and this will be the same.
‘We play against a strong team, not only technically but physically, but I think we are able to match them and to give everything we can to be the winners.
‘Character is amazing in my team and physically I know they are good as well. It is not easy because you have to rest and recover well and make sure you do everything you can to be as fit as possible.’
Leipzig possess the quality to crush Rangers’ dreams, yet questions exist about their frame of mind.
Coach Domenico Tedesco was left aghast by their last outing. A 3-1 loss to ten-man Borussia Monchengladbach on Monday night dealt a serious blow to hopes of Champions League qualification through the Bundesliga.
Winning the Europa League may now be the likeliest path to sustaining Leipzig’s growth in the continent’s top competition next season. ‘I can only talk about my players and my team,’ said Van Bronckhorst. ‘But of course we have seen the last few games they have played in the league.
‘They haven’t had the results they wanted and they are now in fifth place. Of course, Champions League football is also important for Leipzig so they will do everything they can to win this game.
‘We played against them just last week so I have a better view on their players in terms of their qualities and their strengths as well as their weaknesses.
‘We just have to prepare for a really tough game against a really good opponent.’