Gio van Bronckhorst needs to ask just one Rangers question – what would Walter do? Keith Jackson

Among the countless qualities which made him such a giant of a human being, Walter Smith had a wonderful way with words.

He’d never use five of them when just one or two would do. And he’d almost always cut straight to the heart of the point, regardless of how layered or nuanced it might have seemed at the time. Smith had a knack for simplifying the kind of complexities which would tie most others up in verbal knots.

“There is no secret to managing Rangers,” was one of his favourites, even though so many before and after have been evidently stumped by this very conundrum.

“It’s actually very simple,” Smith used to mull out loud over a morning latte, “You just have to find a way to win.”

Not only that. It would be accompanied by a mystified shrug of the shoulders as if he could never quite understand why everyone else hadn’t cracked this code for themselves already.

It was Smith at his self-deferential, problem-solving best.

The most simple of theories, applied to the most troublesome of realities.

And, this evening, it is up to Giovanni van Bronckhorst to put it into practice, now the Dutchman stands on the brink of following in Smith’s footsteps and leading the Ibrox club all the way to the holy grail of European final.

All that stands between van Bronckhorst and a place in history is two legs of football against the best side in the Bundesliga. Be in no doubt, the statistics show that’s exactly what RB Leipzig have become over the last half of the German domestic season, since former boss Jesse Marsch moved on at the start of December, replaced by Domenico Tedesco.

Over the last 10 league games Lepizig have performed better than Champions Bayern Munich – pipping them to first position on goal difference – all of