Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst was angry as the team’s bus was forced to change route on its way to PSV’s stadium ahead of the Gers’ Champions League playoff second leg. Pre-match scenes saw the Rangers team ambushed by Dutch ultras on Wednesday evening before their 1-0 win in the Netherlands earned them a place in the group stage of the competition with Celtic.
The Scottish side asked for the match to be delayed by 15 minutes as a result of the flares and fireworks outside the ground that were captured on social media, but Van Bronckhorst confirmed that their request was denied in a furious rant before kick-off. ”It was the worst I have seen as a player or a manager,” the Rangers boss told BT Sport.
“You expect a club as big as PSV that they have their organisation right. We had to wait 15 minutes in front of the stadium. It is not the reception you expect. We asked them to delay the kick-off a little bit but they did not approve our request.”
There were chants of “We love you Celtic, we do” according to the Daily Record as the visiting side were denied entry to the ground. Pundit and former Rangers player Alan Hutton explained that however upsetting the scenes may have been, it won’t have affected the players.
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The result puts Rangers into the Champions League group stages for the first time since 2010. The last time both Rangers and Celtic reached that stage was two years prior, in 2008.
Former Gers striker Steven Thompson hailed the Dutch coach after a “sensational” result. “It’s just a phenomenal result,” Thompson told the BBC. “It means so much to the club, to the players, to Van Bronckhorst.
“He has won this competition as a player and now to take Rangers into the group stage as manager is incredibly special for him. A sensational evening for Rangers.”
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