Rangers boss van Bronckhorst has Dortmund player named after him, fit to play in Europa League
Rangers’ Europa League playoff tie against German giants Borussia Dortmund is already a mouth-watering prospect for both clubs.
For Gers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst, though, the game has even more importance as he comes up against a player named after him for the first time.
Dortmund’s 19-year-old American wonderkid Giovanni Reyna is the player in question after his dad, Claudio Reyna, played alongside the Dutchman at Ibrox between 1999 and 2001.
van Bronckhorst was asked about this in his pre-match press conference ahead of the two of them going up against each other tomorrow.
“I played with his father, Claudio, and I’m very good friends with the whole family,” van Bronckhorst said [Sky Sports], “Gio I have known from the day he was born so I have a special relationship with him.
“He came to Holland a lot to train with our youth academy at Feyenoord so he was in our house and we were trying to help him to be the player he is now.
“It will be special for both of us to play against each other.”
No time for sentimentalism
It’s all well and good having a relationship as close as this with an opposition player as long as it doesn’t affect what happens on the pitch.
Dortmund boss Marco Rose confirmed the American would be back for the visit of Rangers to Signal Iduna Park in his own press conference [Daily Record].
Not until after the final whistle does any Rangers fan want to see any kind of reaction from van Bronckhorst towards Reyna.
Even then, they still have a second leg to play back in Glasgow so they can’t be too friendly with each other when the final whistle is blown in Germany tomorrow evening.
Being the professional he is, van Bronckhorst will surely be able to park his off-pitch relationship with the teenager to ensure his side has the best chance of winning.
It could really happen too with top scorer Erling Haaland ruled out of the first leg through injury [Marco Rose, via Daily Record].
In other Rangers news, the boss has revealed how the Gers might set up against the Bundesliga title chasers tomorrow.