Where do you start?
Rangers have had some big results in European football in my lifetime and it would be hard to argue against the 4-2 win over Borussia Dortmund being right at the top.
The stage of the competition, the quality of opposition, playing away from home and the fact we had regular first-team players missing including our two most senior centre-halves make this a result that will live long in the memory of the fans, but it was different to successes of the past.
Allan McGregor had one of his quietest nights in the Europa League.
Helpless at the two goals Dortmund scored, he had very little else to do other than organise his defence and play the ball out from the back. Games against Werder Bremen, Lyon and Leeds United involved our keepers playing out of their skin and there was a reason for this.
We were well drilled, defended as a unit and maintained concentration for the full 90 minutes, there were no stupid lapses of concentration or individual errors, every player played their part in following the manager’s instructions to the letter.
It’s a hard game to put into perspective given it’s magnitude but it will mean nothing if we don’t finish the job at Ibrox, the last three games – not including Annan Athletic – have shown what the players are capable of and that we have no excuses for being passive or sitting off teams waiting for something to happen. We went toe-to-toe with one of the continent’s best, in their own backyard, and came out on top.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst got pelters for his tactics against Celtic at Parkhead, I still believe most of the blame should lie at the players’ feet but he didn’t react quick enough to what was happening, however, he has to be praised for our approach in Dortmund – I have never seen a Rangers team, away from home, attack such a high quality team from the outset, the scary thing is, it could have been more.