THE respect shown towards Liverpool – as a club and a team – is as well-earned as it is understandable. For 90 minutes at Ibrox, it must be forgotten and replaced with a desire to compete and a will to win that the Reds simply cannot match.
Rangers didn’t strike that balance at Anfield last week. There were times when the badge on the front of the jersey and the names on the back seemingly spooked Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side as they froze on one of the finest stages in the European game.
Those mistakes cannot be made second time around. Ibrox will be expectant and Van Bronckhorst and his players are under no illusions about what is required against the Reds on the back of such a passive performance on Matchday Three.
Rangers at their best may still not be good enough to see off Jurgen Klopp’s side. But there is a way to play, a way to lose even, as the Light Blues target a historic Champions League success.
“There’s something special about Ibrox on European nights, anyone who has been here will have felt the atmosphere, felt the aura around the place,” John Lundstram, the Rangers midfielder, said ahead of a fixture that Rangers must take something from if they are to stand a chance of salvaging a Europa League spot from their Group A campaign. “There’s just something that happens underneath the lights here, I don’t know what it is, I can’t put my finger on it.
“It gets everyone and gives you a lift. There’s something in the air and hopefully that can be the same again.
“It’s great to come up against these players but they’re on the other team, you’ve got to block that out and play your own game and show them respect to a certain extent, but at the same time show them no respect as well.
“We have to try and get in amongst it. A lot of players can be great players when you have time on the ball, I think we’re great players when we have time on the ball but when you get up in someone’s face, things change.
“Hopefully if we can do that and our midfield match their midfield, that will be key. As long as we’re up against them and laying a glove on them hopefully we can get something.”
Liverpool landed two blows on Rangers first time around but the margin of defeat could, and should, have been far more damaging as Van Bronckhorst’s side were outplayed and outclassed.
The dynamic of the fixture has changed with the venue. The memories of their Europa League heroics are still fresh in the mind, and so is the blueprint that resulted in those famous triumphs.
“It would help,” Lundstram said when asked about the importance of showing aggression but keeping eleven men on the park. “At Ibrox you have to get up against people, get the crowd up, get the crowd going and try to instil a bit of fear in the opposition.
“If we can get up to them and in their faces, it might leave us open a bit and everyone will have to be brave in the stands and bear with us. If we can do that, that’s the only way we can get a result against a team like Liverpool who are really talented.”
Those mesmerising occasions and incredible triumphs over the likes of Braga and RB Leipzig last term are a reminder of the levels that Rangers are capable of attaining.
The bar in terms of the opposition has been raised this term. As yet, Van Bronckhorst’s side have been unable to reach the new heights that are required to compete at this level.
Lundstram said: “The standard of players and teams is miles apart in the Champions League.
“The Europa League is a great competition and we did so well to reach the final but the Champions League is a step up.
“I haven’t enjoyed the results, not one bit! Before every game you are excited and show what you can do but the results haven’t been good enough.
“We don’t like it as much as the fans and we want to rectify that and we need points on the board if we want to get something from the group. We are going to try to win the game.”
That has been the ultimate ambition in each of the three Group A games so far but the defeats to Ajax and Liverpool in particular, and Napoli in a different way, have been testing, tumultuous evenings for Van Bronckhorst and his players.
Sitting just three points behind Ajax after as many fixtures is the main positive to take from the campaign so far. It is that fact that gives Rangers hope heading into the second half of the section.
Lundstram said: “If we want to get something from the group you could say it is probably a must-win.
“I think if we get a result and then we have two massive games, especially the one at Ibrox against Ajax. If we want to do something we need to get a result.
“What do we need to change? Our game plan going into Anfield is similar to what we are trying to do. We went to Anfield trying to get a result and this game is the same.
“We will come out the traps, with everyone behind us and we will try to put the pressure on them. We want to start quickly.
“We tried to do that at Anfield but they had the backing there and it is a tough place to go as everyone in world football knows. Hopefully with everyone behind us we can do something special.”
