LUUK DE JONG is excited to sample a special atmosphere at Ibrox, but the PSV midfielder insists he and his teammates must be prepared to handle the cauldron of noise to earn a result.
PSV Eindhoven are in Glasgow for the first leg of the Champions League play-off round clash against Rangers ahead of the return leg in Holland next week.
Both teams fought through tough ties in third-round qualifying to reach this point and now with a group stage spot on the line, the finishing line is in sight.
Victory will come to whichever team can handle the pressure and De Jong believes the Dutch outfit are more than ready for the challenge.
Speaking at Ibrox last night, the 31-year-old said: “We want to play our own game, but you always know it’s going to be two matches and you keep that at the back of your mind.
“We have lots of players who play very well and we will look to play to our own strengths. I’ve seen some games of the Rangers and the atmosphere has been amazing. It’s quite different from other stadiums.
“I don’t know a lot about the record of Rangers but I know it’s not going to be easy for us. We must be prepared and be a really good team tomorrow.
“You have to be ready for everything in these games. Sometimes you don’t know what can happen, a lot of things can happen.
“It’s not going to be easy, for sure. But a lot of things can happen in these European games and it’s two games. We need to get a good result here and then go to Eindhoven for the second leg.”
PSV defeated Monaco in a tight affair in the previous round and they had to perform at the top of their game to get through.
Despite this, De Jong is adamant there is still more to come. He continued: “Of course it was a great result and we know that we can do better. But we’re still in the beginning of the season and we’re still developing as a team.
“Monaco’s also a really good team, they put a lot of pressure on us and we had some difficult moments.
“But I think that’s why we can be even more proud that we won these games, especially the last one.
“We had some difficult moments and there was extra time. But it’s going to be a little different kind of game tomorrow than against Monaco. But also tough.
“Rangers have a lot of quality players of course. But we’re going to have a good team meting about them and then the coach will tell us all about it. We’ll be ready for it.
“At this moment, we’re just focusing on our team and we will prepare together to face Rangers.”
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