Gio van Bronckhorst plays down Rangers winner debate as he makes Fashion Sakala claim

Gio van Bronckhorst savoured the best four days of his managerial career and insisted the entire Rangers ‘family’ should celebrate it with him.

The Ibrox boss guided his side to a sensational Scottish Cup semi final win over Celtic at Hampden just after qualifying for the last four of the Europa League by beating Braga.

And with both victories coming after strength-sapping extra time, the Dutchman made sure everyone at Ibrox was included in the words of praise he uttered in the aftermath of yesterday’s triumph.

Van Bronckhorst said: “It was a very proud moment for me to see my side play like that. We had to dig deep after a demanding game against Braga.

“But our character was phenomenal, especially because we knew that Celtic were coming at us fresh.

“In the moment the guys did terrific.

“If you play in Old Firm games with 50-50 the crowds are amazing, especially our crowd. We went behind and they pushed us to keep going and try to force the equaliser.

“You can see the emotion with the winning goal from Sakala and the whole stand behind the goal celebrating like crazy.

“For the those moments you are a player, a coach, a media guy, a physio, a doctor - if you see the celebrations we celebrated as a whole, as a club. These moments are meant to be for celebrating with each other. But we have to do it again in a month.”

The Dutchman, having beaten Celtic, won’t accept falling at the final hurdle against Hearts on May 21. Within minutes of this victory, he was setting his sights on silverware, saying: “It’s a proud moment. Of course I won two cups here in my career as a player but if you have these moments as a coach you are more proud because you are responsible for the result.

“When a team is not playing well you