Rangers News

Van Bronckhorst shares delight at hostile Ibrox crowd

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Image for Van Bronckhorst shares delight at hostile Ibrox crowd

Giovanni van Bronckhorst brimmed with satisfaction at the collaboration between his team on the pitch and the raucous support from the stands in the victory over Union Saint-Gilloise on Tuesday night.

The inspiration and the template from the road to Seville last season was followed resulting in another memorable night at the famous Ibrox Stadium.

Now another has been set up with PSV Eindhoven providing the opposition next Tuesday in the first leg of the Champions League Playoff round. It promises to be another powerful occasion.

Gio’s team started ok but the late first half penalty was the catalyst for the rest of the evening. As the second half progressed, the tempo increased as well as the volume and vibrancy in the stands. The manager told Rangers official website:

“It’s very important because we know that the fans are always there, if we have a performance like we did today the crowd will be more hostile. They kept pushing us to move forward, at moments in the game we had to take the right decision to go into quick attacks.”

“We knew that we were capable of doing this, today we did it again.”

Fortress

Rangers are now unbeaten in the last seven Euro encounters at home, with that run starting after the Europa League defeat to Lyon last term.

It is the most consistent period that the club have had in continental competition overall, arguably ever. Think of the upturn since the start of the Steven Gerrard era, four consecutive EL group stage participations, despite the Champions League disappointment last year at the hands of Malmo.

That would be the start of the long run to another European final for the club and now this term, Rangers stands on the brink of Champions League qualification with the riches and prestige that comes with it.

In the worst case scenario, it will be another Europa League campaign ahead with a Pot 1 seeding to boost chances of securing a direct route to the last 16 by topping the group and avoiding the knockout round of 32.

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