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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Christopher Jack

Rangers defender Leon Balogun reveals personal edge to Europa League showdown with Frankfurt

Leon Balogun

LEON BALOGUN has revealed his added personal edge to Rangers' quest for Europa League glory as he aims to overcome old foes Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville.

The defender helped Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side move within 90 minutes of the silverware as RB Leipzig were beaten on a remarkable night at Ibrox.

Now Rangers have a third Bundesliga scalp in their sights as they attempt to write their names in the record books and become European champions.

And Balogun has an extra incentive in mind ahead as he prepares to take on a familiar adversary later this month.

Balogun said: “I was born and raised in Berlin, Germany. I used to play for Mainz and they have quite a rivalry with Eintracht Frankfurt.

"So for me it’s personal as well. I have to make two teams proud.

"But I am very confident that with this group, with this bunch of players, we can achieve that big dream that everybody now has and had before the game.

“I didn’t think about [getting to a European final when I joined Rangers]. But you always have to dream big.

"I don’t think we started this campaign thinking that we were going to make it all the way to the final. The belief grew with every game, especially after the Dortmund game.

"We were like ‘okay, we can do this, we drew Dortmund, we can make that’. We knocked Dortmund out of the way.

"Now are in that place that we dreamed of and we have to make it for the club, for us personally, but also for Jimmy. We have to make sure we win both finals.

“We just took it one game at a time, but I think you have to go into every game knowing that you can make it.

"When we drew Leipzig, everyone was going ‘okay, that’s a tough one’. But we had prominent support I would say.

"I spoke to Toni Rudiger a few weeks back and he said: ‘You know, you’re going to make it, you’ll see’. He was right. Now we have made it to the final, we have to win it.”

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