Rangers face Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final this weekend as they seek to end their season with silverware.

Philippe Clement needs to look back over two years for the last time Rangers came out on top in a significant Old Firm game when Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side won 2-1 at Hampden thanks to a Scott Arfield strike and Carl Starfelt diverting into his own net.

And Van Bronckhorst’s assistant, Dave Vos, has explained during an exclusive interview with the Rangers Review the one detail that changed after a 3-0 Old Firm defeat at the start of 2022, leading to that win at the national stadium.

“One of the most important parts [of the European run] came after the first Old Firm we lost,” Vos reasons.

Read the full exclusive interview...

 

“We were too ‘in the middle’ of the pitch and not pressing opponents all over. From that moment we made a decision together - we will press the opponent all the way. We will keep pressing, winning the ball early and then if they play a long ball [over the press] we can win it. From there on, we have the ball and can make the difference with it.

“When we played Dortmund away, you could make two decisions. You can drop into a block and counterattack but we made a decision together, and from Gio it was a really brave one, to just press the opposition high and create overloads and in a couple of areas on the pitch. We had Kent in one-on-one duels and a dynamic right side with Tav and Scotty Arfield on the right in the half-spaces. The build-up with two sixes, one in a pivot role and the other dropping to make three in the build-up. Everything was connected in that moment.”

Vos suggests it was Van Bronckhorst’s bravery to press high against Celtic, and stunt their build-up, that led to an improvement after the convincing defeat suffered at the start of the year.

Rangers pressed 'fully' man-to-man in their 2-1 Old Firm win at Hampden

During the 3-0 reverse in February, their 'in the middle' approach failed

The 41-year-old Dutch coach, now in charge of the second team at Ajax, also explained how important Calvin Bassey was to that plan.

“Calvin Bassey left and he played a massive part,” he adds, “If you want to press up high in that way, all over the pitch, that was our style. For me, it was possible because of him that we could do what we did.

“We still wanted to do the same things and I think at Ibrox we played really well against Napoli, the first half against Liverpool was unbelievable. In parts of the game we did really well but if you see the level of the opponent it is the small details that are so important."