GIOVANNI Van Bronckhorst insists the Rangers support ‘always have a big role’ as his team prepare to face Union Saint Gilloise in the second leg of the Champions League qualifier tonight.
The Light Blues will host Karel Geraerts’ squad at a sold-out Ibrox this evening and the Dutchman has again emphasised the importance the fans play in creating a special atmosphere as the Gers look to progress into the next round of the tournament.
Speaking at yesterday afternoon’s press conference, he said: "They always have a big role, when we play home games the atmosphere is fantastic. The support of our fans is amazing, I’m sure that it will be the same [tonight]. We have to make sure that our performance is better than last week because we’ll then create an atmosphere which will make it really difficult for opponents, we’ve shown that many times before.
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"I’ve said many times before, if you’re playing in Europe, you cannot have an off night. It will make it difficult for you in the whole tie, the level that we reached last week wasn’t the level we normally have to reach to be competitive in the Champions League. Our performances and our standards have to be on a high [today], we have to be there to move onto the next stage."
🏡 Please arrive early this evening to avoid queues.
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) August 9, 2022
📢 At 7:30pm, the PA system will be turned off to allow our world famous support to create the unique Ibrox atmosphere 🎵🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/6dWZvrswTc
Van Bronckhorst gave a squad update as the team eagerly look ahead to this return fixture at a packed Ibrox and outlined his key objectives heading into the match.
He commented: "If you compare it to the game that we had on Saturday, Ryan Kent is in the squad as well as Fashion Sakala – those two will be in the squad.
"It’s very important because you want to stay in the Champions League and for the next round as well to qualify for the group stages. The first game wasn’t the result that we wanted, we have our home game where we can change it – that’s what we are capable of and what we want to do. My objective and desire is to still be in the Champions League next week."
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