Ruud van Nistelrooy’s friendship with Giovanni van Bronckhorst on hold

Ruud van Nistelrooy’s friendship with Giovanni van Bronckhorst will be put on hold on Tuesday evening when his PSV Eindhoven side take on Rangers in the first leg of their Champions League play-off tie.

Former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker Van Nistelrooy, who was promoted to the role of PSV head coach this summer, says it will be “special” to meet up with his ex-Holland team mate at Ibrox.

However, Van Nistelrooy has set his sights on the Champions League group stages and expects the Rangers manager to be feeling the same.

Speaking in Glasgow on the eve of the first leg, the 46-year-old said: “It is very special. We get on well with each other, we know each other from the changing rooms, our families know each other and it is a special, special thing.

“But we can meet at other times for dinner and hang out.

“(On Tuesday) we both are defending our own badges and that is the way it is.

“When you face a friend as a team, as a player, you only want one thing, for your team to win and that will be the case (on Tuesday).”

Van Nistelrooy played for PSV when they lost 4-1 to Rangers in the Champions League at Ibrox  in 1999 – he scored a penalty for the Dutch side – and was also in the Manchester United team which won 1-0 in Europe’s premier club competition in Govan in 2003.

However, he preferred to look forward and anticipates a raucous occasion at Ibrox against a side which will contain several players who reached the Europa League final last season, only to lose to Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties.

He said: “I have got to dig deep because it was quite a while ago. But I am focusing on (Tuesday) rather than the games I have played here.

“Of course, I will share my experiences of how the atmosphere will be. I have