A Leipzig photographer has created an image of Ibrox Stadium as Rangers fans have never seen it before ahead of the club’s UEFA Europa League semi-final showdown.
Jörg Dietrich specialises in ‘street line’ panorama photography and has paired his Ibrox shot with a stadium panorama for Gers’ semi-final opponents RB Leipzig.
The talented Mr Dietrich has spent much of the last decade travelling the length and breadth of Europe creating his unique cityscape compositions that are markedly different from classic panoramas.
The Leipzig local uses a technique where multiple images are painstakingly stitched together to create a linear panoramic image that would otherwise be impossible to be visualised without the perspective being skewed.
In Jörg’s panorama of Ibrox, the entirety of Rangers’ famous Archibald Leitch main stand is captured in a single frame giving a unique perspective on the 103-year-old structure.
And to mark the occasion of the Europa League semi-final between the Glasgow giants and Jörg's local club, the photographer has matched his image of Ibrox with a panorama of the frontage of RB Leipzig’s Red Bull Arena.
Dad-of-two Jörg says he captured the image of Ibrox during a visit to Scotland in 2015 and had been waiting for a suitable occasion to use it.
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He told Glasgow Live: “I’ve had my Ibrox image archived and always knew I wanted to do it at some point.
“There are not many stadiums in Europe with a street façade like this. It is a very classical and grand frontage.
“It’s a very special situation that we have an international high level game played in these two stadiums that I have the material for.
“When I saw that Rangers had been drawn against Leipzig, where I live, I thought, ‘wow, this is the highest level where you can present two stadia for a game,’ as the final is always one match and played in a neutral venue.
“I had the Leipzig image lying around already, and it’s going to be the first time that I’m showing that one too.
“I am very glad that I am able to get both panoramas out.”
Jörg has previously published images of streets from Glasgow, Edinburgh and handful of other Scottish locations on his website.
He says he is very excited for Thursday evening’s UEFA Europa League showdown in eastern Germany and, despite living in Leipzig, he says he’ll be just as happy if it’s Rangers who make it to Seville in May’s final.
He added: “I think I am going in to the game unbiased. It’s not like I would be depressed either way and I am happy for both teams to get to the final.
“There is a lot of controversy over RB Leipzig as they are a commercial club, but it’s always great to see a football team from the region do well - but I also like Glasgow Rangers.
“Personally, I would prefer Leipzig and Glasgow over the other two teams, so it’s nice that one of them is going to be in the final.
“I will be rooting for the team that wins this match no matter what.”
You can purchase a print of Jörg Dietrich's Ibrox main stand panorama here.
