We’ve covered the PSV playoff to death, but it’s the big topic at the moment, and if Michael Beale has a very intriguing secret weapon up his sleeve, it’s that both Cyriel Dessers AND Danilo have both scored against the Eindhoven side, while of course Sam Lammers used to play for them.
Indeed, not only have a lot of existing Rangers players got experience from the corresponding fixture last season, but the new ones in swathes have experience of PSV, either playing for or scoring against the Eredivisie giants.
On top of all the subplots going into this one, this new curiosity may well influence how Beale selects his team.
Again, indeed, we’d be very surprised if all of Lammers, Dessers and Danilo did not play in this one, quite simply because 1: they cost a fortune and were signed in part for matches like this 2: their own CVs have major relevance to this fixture.
It’s a bizarre one – Beale couldn’t have known Rangers would face PSV in this competition – sure, it was a possibility, but the stars aligning this much was very much out there.
And yet he signed three players with pretty much every penny he had, players who it turns out, are Rangers’ own trojan horses against Peter Bosz’ side.
So while we’re not saying it’s going to be 5-0 to Rangers on the night, we have our own little weapons to rebut against the artillery Bosz is clearly going to throw at us.
We still think PSV are too strong, and Rangers just aren’t ready yet, but we’d love to be long and wipe that smug grin of Joey Veerman’s face.
That’s worth the admission price alone.