The double devastation Rangers must avoid as former Ibrox man recalls Hampden pain days after Euro heartache

Rangers were aiming to be double winning legends at home and abroad in this week.

Now they must avoid being a team forever remembered as the nearly men.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his men missed out on a place in Scottish football folklore following the agonising Europa League final penalty shoot out against Eintracht Frankfurt.

And now the Dutchman must try and pick up his dejected troops for a Scottish Cup final against Hearts at Hampden on Saturday.

Unfortunately for former Rangers goalkeeper and coach Billy Thomson he knows from bitter experience how it can all go horribly wrong.

And he’s hoping the current crop don’t suffer the same fate as his Dundee United in 1987 as they were left to rue a glorious opportunity.

Jim McLean’s side battled for the very trophy Rangers missed out on in southern Spain next week when they reached the final against IFK Gothenburg.

Having beaten Barcelona and German giants Borussia Monchengladbach en route, the Taysiders were fancied.

But, then a two-legged affair in the final, they were edged out 2-1 on aggregate with the second leg in Sweden a 1-1 draw.

And to compound their misery, United returned home and lost the Scottish Cup final as Ian Ferguson’s extra time for St Mirren proved the different at Hampden.

Thomson spent a couple of years at Rangers at the end of his career and returned as a goalkeeping coach where he helped set current keeper Allan McGregor on the road to stardom.

He could see similarities in his old club’s run to the final with Eintracht Frankfurt not of the same calibre as some of the teams they have beaten en route.

But the 64-year-old hopes the outcome isn’t the same. He told Record Sport: “We had an almost identical situation as Rangers have had this