Dutchman confident ahead of trip to Dortmund
GIOVANNI van Bronckhorst believes Rangers are in good shape heading into their Europa League knockout round play- off match against Borussia Dortmund after handing starts to Steven Davis, Filip Helander and Aaron Ramsey last night.
Davis, Helander and Ramsey helped the Glasgow club to romp to a comfortable 3-0 triumph over Annan Athletic in the last 16 of the Scottish Cup at Galabank.
Van Bronckhorst’s side face a challenging encounter against Bundesliga giants Dortmund in Germany on Thursday evening and the former Champions League winner has been buoyed by the performances of the international trio.
“You can see that Aaron wants to play football and enjoy it,” he told Premier Sports. “You could see that in the first half. He was asking for the ball and tried to find openings. He scored a goal but was offside. He looked really lively so I’m happy for him to play for an hour.
“I’m also pleased for Helander to come back and Davis to get more minutes.
“We played some youngsters at the end and Mateusz [Zukowski] had a really good debut as well.”
Van Bronckhorst added: “Davis coming back gives me a lot of options in midfield. We also have [Ryan] Jack, [Glen] Kamara and [John] Lundstram – we’ve got a big squad. You could see the quality we have today.”
Asked about the win over Annan, Van Bronckhorst said: “We wanted to start really well and if you play well from the beginning you can decide the match, which we did in the first half.
“The circumstances weren’t great with the wind and the rain, but I’m happy with the result and the players who got minutes.”