'Feeling and gut': Rangers' Giovanni van Bronckhorst ready to deliver biggest team-talk of his career
Giovanni van Bronckhorst is preparing for the biggest team-talk of his managerial career, but insists Rangers need no added incentive to make history by winning the Europa League in Seville this evening.
The temperature will top 30C when captain James Tavernier leads the Scottish side out to a 44,000 capacity crowd at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium with many more watching on in both Spain and Scotland.
Van Bronckhorst will find a special message to send his team out against Eintracht Frankfurt aiming to land the club’s first European trophy in half a century, and admits his last-minute instructions may come from the heart.
"I always have some final words,” said the Rangers boss. “Sometimes it comes in the moment. I’m a coach who always trusts his feeling and his gut. That can be in meetings or on the pitch or just before a game,” he said.
"I think the players will know how important this game is but it’s always good to prepare them for anything that comes and give them an extra per cent of motivation. But really, I don’t think this team needs any more motivation than we are feeling now.”
Van Bronckhorst insists Rangers will play to win against Eintracht Frankfurt – the third German side they have met in this season’s Europa League having eliminated both Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig in prior rounds.
“It’s finding the right balance,” he said. “It won’t be like the first leg [against Leipzig]. It will be like the game at home.
"We have to play to our strengths and have the best opportunity to win this final."
Rangers have been followed by a throng of supporters spread throughout Seville and southern Spain. Only a fortunate few will make it inside the ground as part of the 9,000 allocation and additional seats in the