MY ACCOUNT
Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst saluted his players as they sent Borussia Dortmund crashing out of the Europa League, describing the 6-4 aggregate victory as “a big moment for the club.”
Leading 4-2 after a stunning first-leg performance at Signal Iduna Park, the reigning Scottish Premiership champions endured a tense second leg at Ibrox.
Despite James Tavernier’s first-half penalty, Jude Bellingham and Donyell Malen reduced the aggregate deficit to a single goal before the break.
Indeed, Malen might have dragged Dortmund level in the tie, but Tavernier drilled in his second just before the hour mark, ultimately booking the hosts’ place in the last-16 draw despite Rangers having a third disallowed after a VAR check.
Van Bronckhorst said: “It is a big moment for the club, we can make a lot of people proud as it was a difficult game again.
“We were very unfortunate in some moments where we could have cleared the ball. We had to change something to be more defensively solid.
“[Alfredo] Morelos was much stronger in the second half, and we had many more dangerous moments.
“We trained with three different plans for today. We needed to have scenarios in place to be executed, and I’m glad we did.
“We had a great performance; we played them twice and got four points – it’s a great performance.
“The last 16 is only top teams; we wait for them, and we look forward to the draw.”
Dortmund star Bellingham suggested he and his team-mates only had themselves to blame.
The England international said: “It was brilliant to play in. A good team, a good test.
“We didn’t have the bite we had in the first half. It’s just one of those nights, we didn’t take all our chances and they took theirs, fair play to them.
“We’ve let the fans, the staff and ourselves down. If we look at ourselves in the mirror, we’ll realise we could’ve done more.”
Bellingham is not wrong. Dortmund finished with a higher expected goals (xG) than Rangers (2.97 to 2.26).
Two-goal Tavernier, meanwhile, revealed that a tactical reshuffle at the break proved instrumental for Rangers.
The Gers skipper said: “We really stepped up in the second half after we changed tactically, it allowed us to progress.
“The manager told us that we have to follow the runners and tighten it up a bit; that’s what we do in our back five system, and it works for us.
“We are really impressive, the result was pleasing. I always try to get to back post, and I got the goal today.
“This game shows the character that we have in the squad; we have a great squad that can push through.”
