RONALD de Boer has looked on from his native Netherlands in the past nine months and marvelled at the job which his friend and former team mate Giovanni van Bronckhorst has done as Rangers manager.

“He has been amazing,” the one-time Ibrox forward and current Ajax A1 assistant said yesterday. “He has put Rangers back on the map in European football. They were a little bit out of sight before. There is certainly a lot of talk over here in Holland about them.”

Yet, De Boer can sense that Ruud van Nistelrooy, who he also played alongside at international level towards the tail end of his trophy-laden career, is making exactly the same sort of impact at PSV Eindhoven.

He felt the Dutch giants were outplayed by their French rivals Monaco for long periods in the second leg of their Champions League third qualifying round double header in the Philips Stadium on Tuesday night and were fortunate to prevail and progress.

However, he was impressed with the will to win which the Red and Whites displayed throughout the tense encounter and believes that Van Nistelrooy, who only took over as head coach in the summer, deserves great credit for their admirable attitude.

The man who helped Ajax to beat AC Milan in the final of Europe’s premier club competition back in 1995 is confident that his old club Rangers are capable of beating PSV in the play-off and securing a lucrative place in the group stages for the first time in 12 years.

But he expects the forthcoming matches to, despite the inexperience of the one-time Manchester United and Real Madrid striker in the dugout and the deficiencies in his team which he is still striving to address, be fiercely contested affairs.  

“PSV were lucky to get through to the next stage of the Champions League,” he said. “If you analyse the game, Monaco were the better team. But, of course, the better team doesn’t always go through in football.

“PSV were very lucky to get an equaliser in the dying seconds and take the game to extra-time. Erick Gutierrez scored with a header in the 89th minute to make it 2-2. Monaco were also the better team in extra time, but they hung in there.

“That says something about the mentality that Van Nistelrooy has instilled in his players. As long as they are still alive they give everything. That is what this PSV team is about – they don’t give in, they don’t give up. That is a credit to Ruud. He has given his players that mindset.

“They kept on believing and gave everything – just like Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final, semi-final and final last season. Their opponents were the better team every time, but, in the end, they won every time.

“Ruud has obviously said: ‘If we don’t control the game, we must be compact.” That is what he has brought to the team. In extra-time they tried to play the ball wide to the wingers and get crosses into the box. He has got one of the best headers in the modern game in Luuk de Jong and he scored a winner.”

De Jong, the former Borussia Monchengladbach, Newcastle United and Sevilla predator who returned to his homeland in the summer after a season with Barcelona, is a player who James Tavernier and his team mates will have to be wary of in the Champions League play-off.

If they are as careless in possession at the back as they were in their 3-0 triumph over Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in Govan on Tuesday night then the 38-times capped 31-year-old will punish their mistakes ruthlessly.

De Boer stressed that he is not the only danger man who Van Nistelrooy has at his disposal and explained that winger Cody Gakpo – who both Arsenal and Manchester United are keen to sign - as well as midfielders Ibrahim Sangare and Joey Veerman will need to be closely marked too.

“For me, Gakpo, Sangare and Veerman are PSV’s most important players,” he said. “Joey in particular. He is very influential in midfield, he makes the attack fluid. Most of the time attacks start with him.

“Veerman has the patience to play the ball between the opposition midfield and the defence or behind the opposition defence. Sangare plays a more defensive role in the midfield and contains opposition sides well.

“Luuk always tries hard for 90 minutes. Neither he nor Gakpo were particularly good in the Monaco game on Tuesday night. But, as I say, PSV never give up, even when they are not in the game.

“That is what I like about them. They do not let their heads go down. They fight for every metre and try to win another way. Because they didn’t give in, they had an important role in that victory.”

De Boer, who scored 40 goals and won every major honour in the Scottish game during the four years that he spent at Rangers, revealed that many of his compatriots are tipping PSV to triumph in the play-off after their Monaco heroics. But he thinks his old club can go through.

“Rangers have a good chance,” he said. “But so do PSV. The thinking in Holland is that Monaco are a better team than Rangers and PSV will win. But I don’t think Ruud, his staff and his players will take Rangers lightly.  They will know that they have to be on top of their games to win.”

It will be the first major achievement in Van Nistelrooy’s embryonic managerial career if they do. 

“I like Ruud as a person and I like how he conducts himself,” said De Boer. “But what I really like about Van Nistelrooy is that he is not naïve. He knows that if his team is not as strong as their opponent then they have to make sure they make it difficult for them. If you can’t win, don’t’ lose.

“Of course, his team will get better. It is still early in the season, he is still finding out what the best shape for the midfield is and what his best front three is, especially the right winger.

“Who is going to play there is not really clear. Normally, Noni Madueke plays there and he is very good player, but he has been injured for a while and is out. He has two youngsters, Ismael Saibari and Johan Bakayoko, there. In general, though, PSV have a good team. I like the team.

“Ruud is searching for the best team to play with the philosophy that he has. He will always want his side to play attractive football and try to dominate the game. But if that is not possible he is realistic. They can also play well on the counter attack. They have got some quick players.

“Under Roger Schmidt, who is now the manager of Benfica, they often played in a 4-2-2-2. But every manager has his own way of playing. Under Ruud they play with a 4-3-3. You have to find a way of hurting your opponents and I am sure they will do.

“But Ruud only has coaching experience with youth sides and second teams. On Tuesday night his team was a minute away from going out. The outcome could have been totally different.”