In 2008, our route to the final was one that was fraught with nervy displays, relying on mainly last ditch defending and heroic goalkeeping to get us through – swashbuckling, attacking football just wasn’t an option.
This season though has seen a Rangers team dominate opposition sides with much bigger budgets and play a style of football that is normally reserved for the domestic leagues, we have been brave, adventurous and clinical, we were top scorers with 23 goals.
Getting to the final is one thing, but the way that we did it was something else and our form has seen three players rewarded with a place in the Europa League team of the season, it won’t replace a winners medal but it is, at least, a consolation for their efforts.
Unsurprisingly, James Tavernier makes the cut, being the tournament’s top goalscorer as a defender is usually enough on it’s own but he also chipped in with a few assists, one stat you might not be aware of though is that he also hit the top speed of any player at 34.1 kmph, a truly remarkable season for the skipper.
The other Rangers players selected were Calvin Bassey and Ryan Kent. Bassey has been excellent at both centre-half and left-back, seamlessly moving between the two positions like a seasoned professional, not a player in just his second year as a senior player, a man of the match display in the final will only heighten interest in him this summer.
As for Kent, sometimes you need to look beyond simple numbers and that’s exactly what he technical committee does, he has been so important for us in getting us up the pitch, dragging defenders out of position and winning key penalties, he has been worth every penny of his £7.5million transfer fee and has more than paid it back.
That Connor Goldson and John Lundstram were unlucky to miss out says it all about how good we were against some really top teams, this wasn’t lucky, this wasn’t a team that held on hoping to scrape through, this was a team that came agonisingly close to making history, make the most of them whilst they’re here because a lot of these players might not be around for much longer.