Rangers Champions League qualification ‘unbelievable’ – Ronald De Boer
Rangers will begin their Champions League campaign on Wednesday with a tough trip to Amsterdam to take on Dutch champions Ajax.
It will be a much swifter reunion for Calvin Bassey and the Light Blues than they will have anticipated with the Nigerian defender set to start at the Johan Cruyff Arena when his former teammates come to town.
Former Dutch international Ronald De Boer loves the 22-year-old despite a debut red card for his new side but still thinks Rangers have done remarkably to make it this far in the competition.
“He gives Ajax strength and speed and on the ball he’s alright,” he said to the Daily Record. “Of course, he can still improve on that part of his game but I think he showed in the last few games that he’s undroppable. Together with Jurrien Timber, they make a great couple in defence.
“Rangers won’t be looking forward to meeting him again. I thought he was one of the best players in the Europa League final, he was unbelievable.
“It will be an interesting match on Wednesday. For me, it’s just great to have two of my old teams playing each other.
“For Rangers to qualify, it’s an unbelievable compliment for what Gio and his staff have done. It’s still too early to say if Rangers are back as a proper European force.”
Free hit
Rangers have found themselves in perhaps the toughest group of the Champions League, with the possible exception of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan (sorry Plzen), so they can sort of have a free swing at this season.
Nobody is necessarily expecting them to progress with Liverpool and Napoli the other two sides in the group but with home form always so critical in European competitions, anything can happen.
It might only take one draw on the road and three big wins in Glasgow for van Bronckhorst’s side to find themselves in the knockout stages so they have the license to try new things on their travels.
van Bronckhorst’s career record in away games is incredibly disappointing anyway so he needs to find a way that will allow his side to win far more games than they do away from Ibrox.
It should prove to be a very exciting game on Wednesday and a draw would be a superb result.
In other Rangers news, an English League Two manager has rubbed in Saturday’s humiliating Old Firm result after his own side were victorious.