Win or lose, tough trip to Dortmund can give Gio’s men a lift for title run-in

ERLING BRAUT HAALAND is the most sought-after and talked-about striker in the world. Still only 21, the boy is so talented, powerful and clinical. His stats and performances for Dortmund over the last two years have been incredible. Eighty goals in 79 games is a staggering return.

Haaland missed Dortmund’s defeat to Leverkusen last weekend with a muscular problem and is a doubt for today’s game at Union Berlin.

If he is not on the pitch for Thursday’s Europa League match, then it can only be a real boost for Rangers. If he plays, Rangers will just need to find a way to deal with him. Easier said than done.

Dortmund always run with a strong squad. They might lose a lot of key players but they tend to sell at the right time and recruit well.

They have not been at their best in the Bundesliga this season but they still sit second behind Bayern and there is no shame in that.

From the veteran Mats Hummels to youngsters like Jude Bellingham and Haaland they have talent in every department.

I would really like to see Gio Reyna feature in the game but the fact I’m writing those words makes me feel very old…

His dad Claudio was a good friend of mine at Rangers. Our wives both fell pregnant around the same time and gave birth to sons named Jack in 1999. Sadly, Claudio lost his boy to cancer back in 2012.

Gio was born after Claudio had left Ibrox for Sunderland and was named after the current Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst. That’s a nice subplot to this match.

Claudio was some player. Very understated but so valued by the manager and his team-mates. A metronome in the middle of the park. He was very trustworthy, never gave the ball away and was a brilliant, popular guy.

I don’t know much about Gio but he has obviously inherited good genes. Being in Dortmund’s firstteam squad at 19 illustrates the talent he has.

The Westfalenstadion is one of the game’s iconic venues and, when full, the support has a huge bearing on Dortmund’s home performances.

It’s a real pity Rangers won’t be facing that wall of noise on Thursday but a reduced capacity of 10,000 might give them a bit of an advantage.

There would normally be 70,000 in there and the way those supporters connect with their team pre, post and mid-match is not the norm. It’s really special.

Last season, I took Aberdeen over to play Sporting Lisbon. We trained the night before and the stadium was immaculate, a fantastic football arena but it was a pity to see it empty again the following night.

I wanted the full experience and so did my players but there is no doubt that the sanitised environment helped.

Without a crowd, managers can get their instructions across, players can talk and communicate which can help with organisation which is always crucial against top opposition.

We narrowly lost the game that night but we were close. At their very best, Rangers enjoy the technical challenge of Europe and are capable of dealing with a game like this, but will they be at that level?

They took a lot of criticism after losing to Celtic at Parkhead earlier this month and it was so important that they knuckled down and won the next one.

The manner in which they achieved that against Hearts showed what they are capable of and they doubled down on that against Hibs in midweek.

But beating the two Edinburgh teams quite convincingly at home is one thing, going away to face a top Bundesliga side another.

If they lose, they simply focus on winning the league. In this season more than any other, the prize money that goes with that automatic

Champions League spot far outweighs beating Dortmund.

But I think they will go and have a go at it. If they beat the German side, what a lift it gives them. If they fall short, there is no disgrace and they can fully focus on domestic matters.

That will be required because Celtic clearly look like a team who are establishing momentum.

When you see the bench Ange Postecoglou is now able to call on it allows for no let-up in performance.

Celtic needed to bolster the squad in January but they did so with an impressive level of player.

If they can keep their squad fit, they have the numbers and ability to give full concentration to domestic and European football. And that’s with Kyogo Furuhashi and David Turnbull still to come back.

The Conference League is a step down, and while there are some good clubs in there, it’s not at the same level as the Europa League.

Bodo/Glimt is not Dortmund and Celtic should navigate this one.

At home in particular, Celtic always feel they can take on anybody. At Motherwell last weekend, we saw their ability to keep their foot to the pedal for 90 minutes. They’ll believe they can go far in this competition.