Rangers must beat Hearts 'no matter what' as James Tavernier delivers straight shooting verdict

The pain will still be raw, the numbness yet to subside.

But Rangers have no time to wander about in a daze wondering what might have been in Seville, what glories they may have achieved had things taken a different turn on Wednesday night.

Just 65 hours on from the moment Eintracht Frankfurt ace Rafa Borre smashed home his winning kick to rip the Europa League away away from Rangers’ grasp, Gio van Bronckhorst’s brave band of brothers will be forced to dust themselves down and go again at Hampden.

Quite what state they will be in physically after 120 gruelling minutes of nerve-shredding action under the scorching Spanish sun, which left the thermometers still touching 30 degrees even after dusk had fallen, remains to be seen.

But it’s unlikely the bodies will be fairing any better than those sagging spirits that thudded heavily to the floor the second Aaron Ramsey’s spot-kick crashed into Kevin Trapp’s legs to put the Germans on course for triumph.

Victory over Hearts tomorrow would seal the Ibrox club’s first Scottish Cup since 2009 but that will be scantest of consolations for a team that came so heartbreakingly close to sealing their place in history.

Get all the latest Rangers news sent straight to your Inbox every day by signing up to our newsletter.

We cover every morsel of information regarding your favourite club in the form of articles, videos and podcasts.

The newsletter will arrive every day at 12pm, giving you a round up of the best stories we've covered that in the last 24 hours.

To sign up, simply enter your email address into the link here.

And if you aren't already, make sure you join the conversation over on our Rangers Facebook group and Record Sport Instagram.

But as skipper James Tavernier knows