Giovanni van Bronckhorst has ordered Rangers to go in for the kill against bloodied Borussia Dortmund tonight after learning the Germans won’t have talisman Erling Haaland to save their skins at Ibrox.
Scotland’s champions shocked Europe last week with a rampant 4-2 first leg win over the Bundesliga big guns at the Westfalen.
And Dortmund were dealt another hefty blow yesterday when Norwegian battering ram Haaland failed to recover from injury in time to catch the team flight to Glasgow.
Rangers will have a big name missing themselves with Aaron Ramsey out again but Van Bronckhorst has ordered the ones he does have available to finish off the job they started by blasting a path into the Europa League last 16.
He was asked if Rangers plan to sit deep and protect their two goal lead the manager insisted his aim is to turn them over for a second time in eight days.
And he said: “Sitting deep? You get in positions in moments in games where you have to.
“But what we did last week is also at the right time we pressed them a little bit higher and tried to win the ball and be dangerous. But to begin the game and sit deep? I don’t think that’s in our system. We have to avoid it.
“I can believe we can pass this round, which is the most important thing. We had a great performance last week and we are all happy with the game we played. We also know it’s only halfway.
“Tomorrow we are going to face a very good team, a very strong team in Europe and we have to be ready to overcome them.
“We are in a good position to play the second game, but I think our focus tomorrow will be to play as strong as possible and try to win the game. That is our intention for tomorrow.”
Van Bronckhorst revealed star signing Ramsey - who has only started a Scottish Cup tie against League Two minnows Annan since his January move from Juventus - will not be fit to face the Germans after missing Sunday’s draw at Dundee United.
And he admits he has no other ways of springing a surprise on Dortmund after last week’s thrilling first leg.
He said: “I don’t know if we surprised them. That is not a question for us. But we played really well, we played to our strengths, we made sure at moments we pressed them high.
“So they definitely have a better view of how strong we are as a team. I also have a better view of their way of playing, so I don’t think we have any secrets any more tomorrow.
“It’s going to be a very exciting game and a game that you want to play, you want to coach.”
For your chance to win HOME tickets to Cinch SPFL matches each week across ALL FOUR divisions just enter our competition below. You can enter once each week to be in with a chance of winning. If the form isn't working (CLICK HERE)...Good Luck!
