Van Bronckhorst shares what he did in Rangers training that proved crucial to Ibrox win over Dortmund

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Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst has told BBC Live’s coverage of his side’s win over Borussia Dortmund at Ibrox – that he got his Rangers players to train in three different systems, in order to give him flexibility.

The Gers pulled off one of the biggest moments in Scottish footballing history when it comes to European football – knocking Dortmund out of the Europa League over two ties. The scoreline read 6-4 on aggregate.

That is, after a stunning 4-2 win away from home in the WestFalenStadion – before surviving plenty of Dortmund pressure to draw 2-2 at Ibrox. Rangers probably had the best chances to win Thursday night’s match.

Van Bronckhorst has been lauded after the match for his tactical tweaks. At half-time, he took off Borna Barisic and replaced him with Leon Balogun. The Gers reverted to a back five, with John Lundstram dropping in.

It was perfect timing, just as Dortmund had gone up a gear towards the end of the first half. After the match, van Bronckhorst stated he had worked on three different systems in training – and this gave him flexibility at Ibrox.

“We trained with three different plans for today. We needed to have scenarios in place to be executed and I’m glad we did,” Van Bronckhorst said. Clearly, the Dutchman wanted to be extra-prepared for Thursday.

Van Bronckhorst tactics: Rangers star have their manager to thank

Donyell Malen, Jude Bellingham and Marco Reus were just beginning to get a foot-hold on the match. Bellingham cancelled out James Tavernier’s penalty and then flicked one into Malen – who made it 2-1 to Dortmund.

It would have been easy to get the team in at half-time, re-focus them and send them on their way but van Bronckhorst recognised that they needed a change up. Putting Lundstram back into defence was the work of a genius.

It nullified both Reus and Malen and while Bellingham was excellent on the night, it also blunted his efforts in trying to find an attacker as Rangers’ hard-working midfield and numbers in defence crowded Dortmund out.