Ruud van Nistelrooy on 'special' Rangers fanbase and PSV surviving Ibrox atmosphere

Luuk de Jong

Have you watched any of Rangers’ European ties recently?

LDJ: I’ve seen some Rangers games and the atmosphere is amazing. It’s quite different compared to some other stadiums. I know it’s not going to be easy, we have to be prepared and be a really good team tomorrow.

Will you need to be better than you were against Monaco?

LDJ: It was a great result and we also know we can do better. But we’re at the start of the season and developing as a team. Monaco are a good team and they put a lot of pressure on us. That’s why we can be even more proud we won these games because we had some difficult moments. It’s going to be a little different tomorrow than against Monaco, but it will be tough.

Can you tell us about Cody Gakpo?

LDJ: He’s an adult already in the team. If you saw our last game, he is a player always getting a shot or cross in and is amazing to have. I scored one last weekend from his cross. He has a lot of quality and hopefully, he can show that tomorrow.

How big a game is this for PSV?

LDJ: Very big, of course. It’s our goal to reach the Champions League group stage , that’s where we want to play. It’s not going to be easy but we really want to reach the group stage and have to fight for that.

Will you have to prepare mentally for the atmosphere?

LDJ: You have to be ready for everything in these games, it won’t be easy but we have two games. We need to get a good result here and then go to Eindhoven.

Ruud van Nistelrooy

How are you looking ahead to tomorrow’s game?

RVN: We’ve got various players capable of doing well for us tomorrow, it’s going to be exciting and it’s a wonderful opportunity. We’re going to do everything we can to go through.

Have you told players about your experience of playing here?

RVN: I played here twice and we’re going to play with good tempo, with a physical group. We’ve got a good team to measure up to and we’re going to put the maximum into this match and put everything into practice.

Is the most important part of the tie going to be next week?

RVN: No I don’t think so, we’re going to fight at Ibrox. This game at Ibrox is going to be very important and we’re really going to go for it.

Is this game about ‘surviving’ tomorrow?

RVN: We have prepared well for tomorrow, to play as a team and reach our maximum. We know what we are facing. A very good team who had a great Europa League run last season, all the way to the final and lost on penalties. They were so close and have kept many of the players in the squad so they have experience. Their support, like our support, is fantastic. That will lift the team so we know what we’re facing. We have to be at our maximum tomorrow to get a good result.

Have you told players about your own experience of Ibrox?

RVN: I’m focusing on tomorrow, more than the games I have played here. Of course, I will share my experiences of how the atmosphere will be because as I’ve said many times before, this is a special fanbase. They support their team in an unbelievable way as our own fans do because you saw our fans lift and carry us through extra-time [against Monaco] and that gave us wings because we had a hard time at home and had to equalise in the last minute to reach extra-time and then win. We know what it is like to be supported in this way and that’s why we can relate to the support here and what it does to a team. In that sense, we are prepared but above all that I see a squad of fantastic players for Rangers, I see young lads and experienced players playing very well together in a very recognisable style under Gio and the team is developing from the Europa League final. They were very close to winning it which was an amazing achievement and they’re building on that. We are fully aware of the quality of our opponents and have to be 100 percent prepared to do well.