LUNDSTRAM HAS SET EXAMPLE FOR ME AFTER TOUGH START, SAYS SANDS

AS he hopes to play even a small part in Wednesday night’s Europa League final, James Sands admits huge inspiration is drawn from the man who got Rangers to Seville.

The American looks at John Lundstram and sees a path to follow. From doubts over his future as recently as the January window, Lundstram is now an Ibrox hero regularly serenaded by supporters as ‘the best on earth’.

His status was cemented by the goal that sealed an outstanding semi-final second leg success over RB Leipzig and almost lifted the Govan ground out of its foundations. It has been a truly remarkable personal turnaround.

Like Lundstram, Sands can also operate in either midfield or central defence. A 90-minute outing in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Hearts at Tynecastle was a positive, but the 21-year-old has taken time to adapt since arriving on an 18-month loan from New York City at the start of the year.

Substitute outings against Red Star Belgrade and Leipzig mean he has contributed to setting up the historic showdown with Eintracht Frankfurt. Sands is still eager though to take every possible lesson from Lundstram.

‘He is quite the player to learn from,’ admitted Sands. ‘Even from the bench, seeing how he handles the game, he is very calm and he has that switch when he is off the ball.

‘I think he is a great example of how things take time as well. The first half of the season he wasn’t in the squad so much and now he has been the most important player. I think that is a good lesson for me to take away as well.

‘I certainly wouldn’t want to play against him.’

Lundstram’s rise is hailed in a Belinda Carlisle-based chant that has become a firm favourite among Ibrox fans.

‘I would love to have a song,’ said Sands. ‘I have got to put in some performances before that.

‘The plan for me was always to have an 18-month loan here because six months or 12 months, I didn’t feel that was enough time for me.

‘Being my first time in Europe, I wanted to have that adjustment period with the hope that next season I could start to become more of a regular.

‘It has definitely been a tough time coming over here, it is my first time living alone and in a different country.

‘That part of it has been new and the league is very different to where I come from. Scottish teams play very quick and physical and MLS is a little slower and a bit more technical.

‘That has been an adjustment but I have enjoyed it. It was always going to be a learning process.’

There has also been satisfaction. Over the course of this Europa League run, Sands has enjoyed victories against American international colleagues.

‘I am quite close with a couple of the guys who are in the Bundesliga,’ he continued. ‘I have known Gio Reyna for a while so playing against him and Dortmund was pretty cool.

‘Also, Tyler Adams is at Leipzig so it is nice to get one over on those guys.

‘For them, playing the games at Ibrox they recognised how special it is and a lot of them say they want to play here because of it.’

Of course, Reyna is the son of former Ibrox midfielder Claudio Reyna, who named him after Giovanni van Bronckhorst. So does Sands think he will now be supporting Rangers in the final?

‘I think Gio is definitely pulling for us,’ he said. ‘When we played them, I actually got a chance to see his whole family and all of them have such fond memories of Rangers.’

Those US connections also provide Sands with a route to gain more information on Frankfurt, who sit 11th in the Bundesliga but have seen off Barcelona and West Ham United in the Europa League.

‘I have talked to a couple of my friends and they have said that they are a good side, counterattacking and have some quality up front,’ he added. ‘It is nothing we haven’t faced already in this competition.

‘What would it mean for me to be involved? It would mean the world.

‘I have come on in a couple of the Europa League games and those are a big deal whether you play 90 minutes or one minute. Any time the manager puts me on I will be ready and it is something I will remember for the rest of my life.’

Sands is also aware of what victory would mean to the Ibrox support. Veteran kitman Jimmy Bell, who passed away earlier this month, helped school him in the club’s history. A second-ever European trophy is an enormous prize to grasp.

‘One of the first days I was here I toured the Trophy Room,’ he said. ‘There is not much space in there but I think they could make room for a couple more.

‘It is special and there are not many clubs in the world who have that. For me to be playing for one of those clubs has been pretty unreal.’