It is perhaps telling that if the blueprint of Rangers’ run to the Europa League final was to be rolled out on a dusty workbench and examined in fine detail, those looking for the secret ingredient in Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side would realise they had been staring at it all along.
There are, simply, few secrets to be found in their success. As a football team Rangers are not particularly polished and certainly don’t exude a gleam of attacking football to stop and marvel over. But on nights such as Thursday they are ferocious and breathless and devilishly addictive. Occasions and performances like these don’t come around too often, but you would pay just a bit more for another hit of one.
