The most important team that Giovanni van Bronckhorst will probably ever pick.
In this Europa League run he has been difficult to predict, throwing the odd surprise like using Glen Kamara as a number ten and Joe Aribo as an auxiliary striker, Scott Wright has also found himself playing at a level that I bet he never expected too.
Had it been a two-legged affair it might be a little easier, however, in a straight shoot-out, I can see Gio trying to cover all bases so that he can adapt his tactics without having to make any substitutes, by my calculations there are two places up for grabs.
This is who I think he will go with and the players he will trust to win our second major European trophy:
To clarify, personally, I’d rather have Fashion Sakala starting through the middle but Joe Aribo has shown that he can be useful in the central striker role and his hold up play will be crucial in getting us up the park, the Zambian international – with a goal contribution almost every 100 minutes – is a great option off the bench though.
The biggest question marks will be over who plays at number ten and who plays on the right wing, by bringing in Kamara, it means that the manager can drop John Lundstram into defence and the Finland international can fill in in midfield, a move we have seen a few times. The more attacking call is to play Aaron Ramsey at ten and either Scott Wright or Fashion Sakala on the wing but I think that could potentially be too attacking to start with, however, Wright did start against RB Leipzig so he clearly trusts him.
The good thing is, even if Kemar Roofe is only fit enough for the bench, we aren’t limited in terms of what we can do. Wright, Sakala and Ramsey are all playing well and it will just depend on how Gio wants to set up his team. The team that started against Leipzig had a good balance of pace and control and put in a near perfect performance, there is little reason, other than individual reputation, to change it.
It’s not an easy call for us as fans so I can only imagine how hard it must be for Van Bronckhorst but the message will be the same for whoever takes to the field – empty the tanks and bring that trophy home to Ibrox.