Pop icon Belinda’s good luck message to Rangers
Team CAN make heaven a place on Earth – in Seville!
‘Huge numbers of people’
IT WAS a pop classic that soared to number one in the UK charts way back in 1988.
But now Belinda Carlisle’s Heaven is a Place on Earth has been adopted as an unofficial Rangers anthem.
And, after learning of the new-found love for her hit single, Miss Carlisle has wished the team well in tonight’s Europa League final.
In a video posted on Twitter, the 63year-old said: ‘Wishing John, Gio, Tav and everyone at the Glasgow Rangers Football Club the very best of luck in Seville.’
The song has become popular with Rangers supporters, who adapt the lyrics to celebrate midfielder John Lundstram.
Fans of the Old Firm side have been pouring into the Spanish city over the past few days ahead of the game against German side Eintracht Frankfurt.
Yesterday the mercury hit a scorching 34C (93F) in Seville, with temperatures expected to peak at 35C (95F) today. Temperatures will drop to around 30C (86F) when the fixture kicks off inside the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium at 9pm local time.
The Ibrox side received 9,500 tickets for supporters to watch the final, but police in Spain are estimating that up to 100,000 Rangers fans will be in the area for the game, with a further 50,000 Eintracht Frankfurt fans also making the trip.
Seville’s commissioner for citizen security said its police force was prepared for large numbers of fans descending upon the city.
Juan Carlos Castro Estevez said: ‘I am not worried at all. I believe our teams will be able to counteract any kind of problem that emerges, and obviously there could be some.
‘Even if 150,000 fans don’t come – if it’s half that number or less – we will have substantial issues.
‘From today there are going to be huge numbers of people in Seville.’
Any fans who have travelled without tickets for the match will be able to watch it screened live inside La Stadium, which holds 60,000 fans. Despite the overwhelming majority managing to travel without any problems, one fan wearing a sombrero and Rangers top was removed from a Ryanair flight heading from Manchester to Faro, Portugal.
A spokesman for Ryanair said: ‘One passenger was removed prior to departure, and following a diversion to Nantes, a further five disruptive passengers were removed and met by police on arrival.’
The last two times Rangers made it to the final of a European competition – in 1972 in Barcelona and 2008 in Manchester – there was fan violence.
Club legend Ally McCoist joined former stars including John Greig, Graeme Souness, Richard Gough and Ian Durrant in urging fans to ‘have a party’ but ‘go there and behave’.