Kenny Dalglish insists Rangers must change Champions League approach as he names one Eindhoven difference maker

Kenny Dalglish admits Rangers will have to take a different approach from some of last season’s heroic European nights if they are to progress to the Champions League group stage for the first time in over a decade.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst led the Ibrox club to the Europa League Final and took some big scalps along the way, including German giants Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig in the semi-final. But the Light Blues were away from home first in three of their four knockout round ties.

That was also the case in their Champions League third qualifying round tie against Union Saint-Gilloise where they overturned a 2-0 first leg deficit with a storming 3-0 win at Ibrox in the return. However, they now face a shoot-out with PSV Eindhoven in Holland to reach the promised land after a 2-2 draw in Glasgow in the first game.

And Scotland and Liverpool legend Dalglish says that represents its own challenge for Van Bronckhorst and his men. Writing in his Sunday Post column, he said: “Rangers got some huge results in the Europa League last season, but most of them were when they had the return leg at Ibrox. This is different, and now there will need to be a change of mindset.

“Giovanni will have a plan, and it will be interesting to see exactly what that is. We will get an inkling of it when we see his starting line-up before kick-off, and all the more apparent when the game starts. Does he go on the front foot, to try to get the first goal? Or does he sit back, let PSV have the ball, and try to hit on the counter?

“Rangers will definitely need to be patient. They will have spells without the ball, and they need to stay compact and focused. As much as they face an uphill struggle to go through, this is not insurmountable.