From dehydration in Spain to elation at Hampden.
The Ibrox faithful were left parched at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium as UEFA’s shambolic organisation turned last week’s Europa League final into a nightmare for the thousands who followed their team to Andalusia.
Outside the home of Sevilla CF, the local rozzers were living up to their robocop reputation by confiscating water bottles and sunscreen from punters baking in the scorching 35 degree heat.
Inside it got even worse as the ground ran out of bottled water, forcing the frazzled fans to drink from the taps in the stadium toilets before, bizarrely, outrageously, they were turned off too.
The Sanchez-Pizjuan was nowhere near big enough for a game of this magnitude and it’s facilities a disgrace.
Frankly, it made Hampden – a ground not short of detractors – look like a temple of luxury and comfort.
The supporters’ severe drouth was made all the more unbearable by the fact the travelling legions’ huge thirst for Euro glory went unquenched as Eintracht Frankfurt snatched their champagne moment on penalty kicks.
Yet it was back on the slopes of Mount Florida that the Rangers fans were able to drink in their moment of triumph.
It seemed hard to believe that Rangers could recover from that sobering loss and lift themselves for the challenge of facing Hearts just three days later.
But credit to Gio van Bronckhorst ’s men. Refuelled and recharged, they somehow battled through yet another 120 minutes to end the club’s 13-year Scottish Cup hoodoo.
Maybe it was the hangovers, more likely the lingering sense of despair at seeing their team come so close to a prize they could only have dreamed about a few years ago.
But while the Jambos contingent sprawling round the east bank of the national stadium were in excited, optimistic fettle in the 20 minutes before kick-off, it seemed like the blue half of the Hampden crowd were having to force themselves to cough up another bark of battle fever.
Most of them would have only just have battled their way back from the southern tip of Spain to be fair.
It was a planes, trains and automobile job on the exodus from Seville and while the journey out was supercharged on San Miguels, the one back was more likely kept going by paracetamol and pepto bismol.
Just getting home was a gruelling affair.
I can speak from personal experience on this one myself. The wild weather sweeping across Europe on Friday night meant delays and cancellations as dozens of flights were grounded.
I didn’t see my own bed until 1am on cup final day, meaning it wasn’t water needed but some pretty high-strength coffee as the game got underway.
But the fans were woken from their slumber the second their team emerged from the tunnel.
The roar went up and so did the heartbeats of the players.
That backing was like a caffeine injection to weary limbs but Rangers had to dig in as the Jambos sought to take advantage of any post-Seville malaise in the Ibrox ranks.
But aside from an early Ellis Simms effort which clipped the base of the post as James Tavernier failed to spot the Everton loanee sneaking in, it was a stress-free opening half for Gers.
They upped the tempo before the break but the lack of a natural poacher meant the chances created were squandered.
They were chances Alfredo Morelos would usually gobble up.
But with the Colombian stuck in the stands wearing one of the Kray Twins’ overcoats, it was again left to Joe Aribo to provide the menace up top.
The Nigerian playmaker has done a commendable job of it lately.
But he’s not a natural in front of goal.
The lead his strike in Seville gave van Bronckhorst’s men may only have lasted 12 minutes but the memories of the scenes of joy sweeping round the stadium there will linger a lifetime for those there to witness it.
He may have secured his slice of glory back in Glasgow had he got a better connection with a cross from the outstanding Calvin Bassey.
Bassey chucked over another cracker but Amad Diallo ensured his departure back to Manchester United will be greeted with an Alan Partridge-style shrug of the shoulders after making an even bigger miss of his header than Aribo.
There was another opening for Aribo in second-half stoppage-time but a combination of Nathaniel Atkinson’s naughty tug and Craig Gordon’s big toe denied the former Charlton ace as extra-time beckoned.
It’s been the long goodbye for Connor Goldson all season, so what was the harm in another half an hour for the big defender on his farewell tour?
Given the way the team have dragged out things over these final 11 games of the season, going to extra time in four of them, he’s had plenty of time to savour what looks like his final campaign in Glasgow.
And he lapped up the moment as first Ryan Jack and then Scott Wright rifled home the goals that ensued Rangers, showing remarkable powers of resilience and stamina, powered past Hearts to finish the season on a high.
The former Brighton stopper was right in there, first to join in the celebrations.
He didn’t look like a player desperate to leave yet Van Bronkhorst said last week the chances of contract talks that have been stalled for almost a year being kick-started remained “small”.
An almost ever present over these past two seasons that have restored Rangers’ reputation at home and abroad, English clubs will be lining up to offer him a return south.
Rangers ’ only hope of retaining his services is to finally come up with an offer that blows the rest out of the water.
