It's been a long road to the Europa League final for Rangers and James Tavernier, from starring as the club returned to the Premiership during the 2015/16 season after their administration. He could now just be 90 minutes away from lifting the UEFA Europa League trophy as Rangers captain, the first man to do so.
Winners of the competition in the last 10 years include Manchester United, Chelsea, Sevilla, Atletico Madrid and Villareal, which shows the strength of Europe's second biggest cup competition and underlines just what an achievement it would be to secure a win at Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium on Wednesday night.
Rangers' opponents Frankfurt are also a a surprise entry in the final, having battled past Barcelona and West Ham en route to Seville. Meanwhile, Rangers also had a tricky path, beating Borussia Dortmund, Braga, Red Star Belgrade and finally 2019 Champions League semi-finalists RB Leipzig in the semi-final.
Tavernier scored in that semi-final against Leipzig and the former Newcastle man has seven goals in Europe this season, a typically high return for the attacking full-back. The 30-year-old admitted in an interview with Sky Sports that his side's route to the final had been a 'rollercoaster'.
"It's been a rollercoaster," he explained. "It's been a journey. Some of the results that we have taken back to Ibrox, and to overcome the results that we've had. We could have done better in the group stage but that gets long forgotten when it comes to you progressing in the knockout stages."
Rangers have struggled at times in the league under new manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst, but will be facing a team who have been facing struggles of their own with an 11th place finish in the Bundesliga well below what could be expected from Europa League finalists.
Tavernier also offered his view on his opponents ahead of the match, saying: "We know Frankfurt are a very good team - they have knocked out Barcelona and West Ham. You can't really consider the league position they're in. They've got to the final for a reason. They are good at counter-attacks, and they're a German team so they will obviously be good on the ball and strong physically. So we just have to nullify their threats and really take the game to them."
