Gio van Bronckhorst hailed his strikers ahead of a Champions League shoot-out with Liverpool - after firing a four-goal salvo past Hearts.
The Ibrox side were red-hot at Tynecastle on Saturday, with Antonio Colak, Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent all on the scoresheet. Gaffer van Bronckhorst was delighted with how clinical they were against the Jambos. And he’s praying they’re just as prolific in Tuesday night’s Battle of Britain clash at Anfield. The win in Gorgie kept Rangers right in the mix with Celtic in the Premiership before their trip to Merseyside.
And afterwards, van Bronckhorst said: “We know what type of player Colak is and he’s started really well here. I’m really happy for him to get another two goals. That’s a positive and so is Morelos and Kent getting on the scoresheet. Because we need as many goals as we can get. It’s good to see different players scoring and Colak’s performance was very good. Apart from his goals, he’s important to us due to the energy he puts in the team.
“He got two goals in his last game and two again today. I”m really happy with him. But it’s great for Morelos and Kent too. We want to improve our chances and our goals so it’s good to see them scoring today. The most important thing was to start this next block of fixtures before the World Cup with a win. Anfield is going to be a big game for us, in a fantastic stadium, against a really tough side.
“But this win makes it a very positive way for us to travel to Liverpool. We now switch back to Europe but it was important to get three points and four goals today. We have two days to prepare now for a big game at Liverpool.”
Rangers were comfortable winners against Robbie Neilson’s side but they were helped by Cammy Devlin’s first half red card. Both managers agreed his challenge on Rabbi Matondo was worthy of sending off - and van Bronckhorst told the Aussie afterwards he’s too good a player to get involved in tackles like that.
He said: “Rabbi was in a duel with his opponent and Devlin came in as a third man from behind. I really like Devlin as a player. I told him he doesn't need challenges like this. He's a far better player than to use those tackles. He is one of Hearts’ best players, he is a midfielder with dynamics. But he doesn’t need these kinds of challenges.”
Van Bronckhorst could afford to take Ben Davies and Ryan Jack off at half-time with the game wrapped up at 2-0 - but says they’ll be fit for Anfield. Tynecastle is a notoriously difficult away venue but the Rangers boss was pleased with his team’s performance.
He said: “We started really well. This is a hard place to go. I think the first and second goal made it easier because it meant they had to come to us which they did. After the red card we controlled the game and managed to score two more goals. We created more open chances in the first half and could have scored more but overall I'm really happy with the three points, four goals and the clean sheet. To win 4-0 away against Hearts is a big win for us.”
