James Tavernier was made to wait an eternity to take the penalty that opened the floodgates on one of Rangers’ greatest ever European results.
But the supercool Rangers skipper admitted he’d known for 24 hours where he was going to stick the spot kick if given the chance anyway.
Tavernier set the ball rolling on a monumental night on the continent after VAR penalised hapless Dortmund defender Dan-Axel Zagadou for handling the Englishman’s cross in the box.
He kept his composure to send Gregor Kobel the wrong way after 36 minutes to open the door on a stunning 4-2 victory in Dortmund that will have resonated round Europe.
Gio van Bronckhorst’s men tore apart their hosts’ Europa League favourites tag to put one foot in the last 16 ahead of next week’s second leg in Glasgow.
Tavernier said: “I was waiting for the VAR. When the referee pulls it you obviously think something is going to happen.
“I wasn’t sure if the ref blew the whistle or not when I was standing on the penalty spot. But that’s why I practice on the training ground and make sure I execute them.
“I always know where I’m going to put it the day before - it’s just the way I go about things.”
Tavernier also produced an assist for Alfredo Morelos to knock home the second.
And he told BT Sport: “We are really happy with the result. We know it’s only half way there so we can take the positives out of tonight.
“We are a little bit disappointed to concede the two goals because we put ourselves in a really good position.
“But overall we controlled the game as best we could and limited their chances. I thought we were really effective on the break and got the goals. I’m really happy.
“I thought all the boys performed really well. Those that came on stabilised us to give us the platform we needed. I didn’t see the penalty but that’s the benefit of having VAR.
“It’s another set piece goal as well. We have been working hard on them and it came through today and put us in a good position.”
Rangers bulged the Borussia net four times. But Tavernier insists they’ll take a 0-0 mindset into next weeks’ return.
He said: “Come next Thursday, we are going to treat this as a 0-0. There are no away goals, but with 50,000 fans behind us, that will help us but we want to put a performance in for our fans and get through to the next round."
The skipper also singled out Ryan Jack who stepped up his return with a hugely influential performance against the star-studded Dortmund midfield.
Tavernier told the Rangers website: "Jacko is an exceptional player for us - he has been that way since he first came through the doors and I’m delighted for him to be getting his chance but it just shows the strength in depth of our squad.
"Jacko got his chance, and he took his chance with both hands so I am really happy for him and hopefully he can stay injury-free and just play game-in, game-out."
Meanwhile van Bronckhorst spoke of his pride in the performance of his players - and revealed he’d identified weaknesses in the star-studded Dortmund side after watching hours of footage.
Ryan Kent and Joe Aribo terrorised the German’s backline while Morelos produced a vintage European display to ruffle up veteran Mats Hummels and error-prone Zagadou who had a night to forget.
It was job done on the night. But van Bronckhorst was at pains to stress his side are only halfway to winning the tie.
He said: “We worked hard to get the right gameplan.
“We watched a lot of Dortmund games and we knew they were getting a lot of goals against them lately.
“I think we prepared the game well and had a lot of meetings on the way Dortmund can play.
“We were prepared technically, but more importantly mentally. We had the right attitude today to getting a good result.
“It is a very good result for us against a quality team in Europe.
“We wanted to take a result back with us to Glasgow. I think we achieved that with the two goal difference we take back.
“I am really proud of the performance that the players have shown today but we also know that we are only half way and there is still one game to be played.
“To come here and score four away goals in Europe I think is a very good achievement. I am more than happy with the result and also the performance.”
Asked if it was the best performance of his tenure so far the Dutchman said: “We had many games where I have been pleased with the performance and the home game with Sparta Prague was also a good performance.
“You want to be successful with your club, you want your players to enjoy the games and do well and to get good results.
“I am obviously more than happy for my players but also happy because we represented us really well as a club.
“We played against a quality side and got a good result and we are on our way to a good game next week at a full Ibrox. I am very happy with the achievement.”
