Royal Antwerp manager Franky Vercauteren fondly remembers a previous visit to Scotland and is gutted that the pandemic will deprive him – and his team – of another experience of the passionate Ibrox atmosphere, with next week’s return leg to be played behind closed doors.
At the press-conference in the build up to the first leg game, Vercauteren spoke of his memory from the visit to Glasgow, when he was working with the Belgian national side.
He lamented the full situation, with also losing out on a vociferous home support:
“It is a pity in general,”
“Antwerp has a very fanatic support. We can use them, they are a help to us when we play at home.”
“Nobody wants to come here and face the Antwerp public. We will miss them.”
“But I will also miss the Ibrox support. Because if you are involved in football you want to play in these games, with a full stadium and this atmosphere.”
“It is maybe to our advantage, but if you are a football fan or a coach of a top team you want to play in the best atmosphere with a lot of fans even if the fans help the home team.”
“It is a pity we cannot play with the public. It would be much, much better. I will miss the Ibrox fans.”
“I had the opportunity once to see a local derby, Rangers against Celtic. These are the moments you want to live, it is why we play football, to be in that atmosphere and play.”
“I was scouting for the national team. As an assistant I was going left and right to see games and follow players in different competitions.”
“That was the reason for my visit. I was able to sometimes choose the game. It is a very good memory.”
Vercauteren has Antwerp sitting pretty in second place in the Jupiler Pro League, since his arrival in early January
He previously led Anderlecht to the Belgian league title, twice as well as another one with Genk.
In the group stage, his predecessor Ivan Leko led ‘The Great Old’ to four wins and two defeats with those results split equally, home and away.