John Lundstram has snubbed any ticket requests from Liverpool-daft pals as he revealed all of his family will be cheering on Rangers as he prepares for an emotional Champions League tie at Anfield.
The Scouser is returning to his home city desperate to help the Ibrox side pick up their first points in Group A in the first part of the Battle of Britain double header against last season’s runners-up. Lundstram is taking on his boyhood heroes after growing up supporting the red half of Merseyside - while playing for the blue half.
Lundstram has been swamped with requests for gold-dust briefs but the 28-year-old midfield enforcer won’t be handing any over to Liverpool fans. He told Sky Sports: “I’ll have family members at the game - as many as I can have. They will be in our end of course - they’re not getting a ticket if they’re not supporting us! I’ve had loads of messages and people trying to get tickets but you only get a certain amount and anyone supporting Liverpool won’t be getting a ticket for our end.
“All my family members will be supporting me and Rangers but maybe some of my pals might still want Liverpool to win. It was tough growing up going to the games because I was at Everton so I didn’t go to an awful lot of games but I was always a fan from afar.
“Being at Everton it was hard, you can’t really show you are a Liverpool fan but that sort of fades away when you get to the teenage years and it gets a bit more serious playing for Everton so my allegiance faded away a little bit. But when I left the club I got back to trying to support the team.”
Lundstram scored in the win over Borussia Dortmund in Germany in the Europa League last season and admitted they must take the recipe for success on the continent last season to take anything from Liverpool after defeats to Ajax and Napoli in the group.
He said: “I’m looking forward to an awful lot, not just because it’s Liverpool but just playing in the Champions League. The Ajax and Napoli games were huge for myself and any footballer but of course going back to my own city, the club I grew up supporting, is a special occasion for myself and I want to go there and get a result.
“This game is key. We’ve lost two, with a better performance against Napoli and we want to carry that in to the game at Anfield. Of course, they are one of the top two teams in Europe, if not the world, so it’s going to be a tough task for us but we’ll go there with belief we can get a result.
“Our away games last season we had a good foundation to build from. We were hard to beat first and foremost and then we tried to get goals at the other end. But everyone knows the step up from the Europa League to the Champions League is worlds apart and we’re playing against the world’s best now.
“It’s a completely different level but if we can get that solid foundation right then hopefully it gives us a platform to go and win the game. The gameplan is up to the manager but the bedrock of any team is being hard to beat. We need to get that and get back to that and being tough to beat in Europe like last season and going to Anfield you need a solid foundation whether it’s a back three or five and we need to be on the money individually and collectively.”
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