GIOVANNI van Bronckhorst has revealed how he joked with his former player Calvin Bassey that Rangers would end up playing Ajax in the Champions League two days before the Scottish and Dutch clubs were drawn to face each other.
Van Bronckhorst enjoyed meeting up with Bassey, the Nigerian defender who moved from Ibrox to the Johan Cruyff Arena in a record £20m transfer back in July, again before the play-off match against PSV Eindhoven this week.
The centre half visited the Europa League finalists’ hotel on the eve of the game in the Philips Stadium and spent time speaking to his old team mates about the encounter with the Eredivisie side.
Rangers triumphed 1-0 on Wednesday evening thanks to a second-half Antonio Colak goal and were then drawn to play in Group A alongside Ajax – as their Dutch manager had predicted - Liverpool and Napoli.
“I spoke with Calvin on Tuesday night,” he said. “I have had a lot of contact with him by text. But it was really good seeing him.
“Of course, we talked about the game we played against PSV and how we would try to be in the group stages. I told him that if we went through we would play against each other.”
Van Bronckhorst is pleased that Bassey has started his Ajax career in a positive fashion by helping them beat Sparta Rotterdam away last Sunday – but is hoping that his form deserts him in the double header against Rangers in the coming weeks.
However, he predicted that the Glasgow club’s supporters will laud the man who was immense during their run to the Europa League final last term when he takes to the field before kick-off for the warm-up.
“It (playing Rangers) will be strange for him because he just left,” he said. “He wanted to compete in the Champions League with Ajax and now he will be back at Ibrox. I am sure the reception he will get at the start will be very warm.
“But when the whistle goes I think the first feeling he will have is about playing at Ibrox with the atmosphere as an opponent. I think that will feel really weird for him as well.
“But I love Calvin, he is such a great guy, such a great player. He is going to do well for Ajax. Hopefully in the two games that we play against them a bit less, but it will be nice to see him again.”
Van Bronckhorst, whose side return to domestic action this afternoon when they take on Ross County at home in the cinch Premiership, currently only has two fit centre backs, Conor Goldson and James Sands.
However, the former Feyenoord manager, who is without Ben Davies, Filip Helander and John Souttar at the moment, stated that he is comfortable with the options he has at his disposal entering the final days of the transfer window.
“Of course we will always be looking,” he said. “But we have a squad and a group to be competitive in domestic competition and also to qualify for this Champions League.
“That’s why we brought in so much quality that we have now. We reached our goal to go into the group stages and I think that’s a huge compliment to my squad.
“Of course, you always have to be ready because there are always things happening in the last days. Hopefully not with us, but you have to be prepared.
“Of course if we can add something, some quality to the squad, and we think it’s good to add then we will. But I am really happy with the squad we have at the moment.”
Van Bronckhorst, a Champions League winner with Barcelona in his playing days, is not at all daunted by the prospect of taking on Ajax, Liverpool and Napoli in the group stages.
“After the game against PSV I said we were going to play against quality sides and I’m looking forward to the challenge we face playing against the best sides in Europe,” he said.
“It is the biggest competition in the world for clubs. We will face Liverpool, who have been in the final in the last couple of years, won it a couple of years ago and are competing every season with City for the Premiership title. So there is a lot of quality in the team. That will be a big challenge.
“Ajax are dominating in Holland in the last years and are competing really well in Europe. So it is going to be very hard. Napoli started the season really well and then lost some key figures in the team. They have added some really god quality to the squad.
“But it is good that we face these opponents because I think we can develop even more as a team playing against really good opposition. No, it is going to be tough, but you wouldn’t expect otherwise.”
