A result against Galatasaray would give us a great chance of going through to the Champions League proper for the first time. Not that the French seem to think we deserve it. I was disappointed by their comments after the match and feel they didn’t give us enough credit. They also say they will win over here. We’ll see!
The Turkish trip will be a homecoming for Tugay who spent many years with Galatasaray before coming to Ibrox. And what a star he was in France. In training before leaving we discovered Tugay would be playing as a sweeper and it’s a decision which paid off big-time. He supported the defenders superbly and made the right challenges at all the right times. In fact, he was magnificent.
The sweeper system is one we’ve tried in training and Tugay had played there before – most notably during Euro 2000 – so I was pleased he had such a good game. He hasn’t played much for the first team lately but every time Dick Advocaat has called on him he has shown commitment and is there for the team. He’s a great player to have around.
Last season we had some good games in the Champions League but just couldn’t get the win, or sometimes even a point. But we’ve learned and once we get in front now we are very good at defending what we have to get the three points.
We were on top form in the opening 20 minutes and deserved to get the goal. After that it was all about defending and we did that very well to protect our 1-0 advantage. The Fans also deserve a special mention – they were amazing. In fact, even though it was Monaco’s home game it was only the Rangers fans we could hear inside the stadium.
We must be one of the best supported clubs in Europe but I remember once with Feyenoord we had 15,000 travelling fans for a match with Borussia Monchengladbach.
Everyone was extremely happy with the win in Monaco but we can’t get too carried away as there is still a lot of work to be done before we reach the second phase. And let’s not forget about the domestic scene. We still have to try and catch Celtic who remain top of the league.
It’s funny, I was aware they were playing last Monday but it wasn’t until Barry Ferguson came in later in that I knew the score. I was sharing a room with Claudio Reyna, like I always do, and although it’s normally boring for the players stuck in a hotel all the time this was quite a good trip.
Monte Carlo is such a lovely city that we went out for walks at night. Sometimes we would bump into our wives and girlfriends who were allowed over, or Claudio would see his son Jack.
It was nice to have them over there, especially my partner Marieke, and hopefully it’s something we can do again. Well, if it meant we were going to win every game 1-0 who would argue?