Rangers legend Arthur Numan believes his former side will relish another “special” European night at Ibrox and won’t rule out another run to the Europa League final.
Athletic Bilbao are next up in Thursday’s quarter-final first leg at Ibrox with either Lyon or Manchester United awaiting the winner in the semis.
If they get through those games, then they will return to the Basque Country for the final in May, just three years after falling at the last hurdle in a penalty shoot-out defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville.
Numan, who spent five years at Ibrox between 1998 and 2003, still gets goosebumps when he thinks back to playing in the famous atmosphere the stadium can create on big nights such as Thursday.
He believes Rangers can pull off another victory against the odds to keep their European dream alive.
Speaking to STV Sport, he said: “It will be another fantastic experience, it will be tough, but they beat Celtic when no one was expecting it and I think everyone was surprised when they won in Turkey.
“They played absolutely fantastic over there, scoring three and had two goals disallowed.
“Against Bilbao they will have to give everything to get a result, but in Europe they have been unpredictable.
“Under Van Bronckhorst, a couple of years ago, they reached the final when not many people were expecting that.
“You have to take it game-by-game, the result in Turkey was fantastic, they lost 2-0 at Ibrox but beat them on penalties and that gives everyone a lift because it doesn’t matter how you get through, as long as you get through.
“They need to just try to qualify for the next round and then take it from there.
“Sometimes it’s better to play away from home in the first leg so you can have the support behind you for the deciding game, but it’s hard to predict as who expected Rangers to play such a fantastic game over in Turkey? No one, so it’s always hard to predict.
“European games at Ibrox were always special, under the lights and the noise from the supporters, I still get Goosebumps when I think about it.
“As soon as you come out of the tunnel, the fans start to sing and you just look around you thinking ‘this is amazing’.
“For the 90 minutes you try to give everything and the atmosphere is just fantastic and it can be like an explosion of noise after the game if you get through to the next round.
“If they can get past Bilbao and reach the next stage it will be fantastic for Barry and the team.”
Numan played beside current interim manager Barry Ferguson during his spell in Glasgow and the pair lifted three league titles, three League Cups and four Scottish Cups together under Dick Advocaat and Alex McLeish.
He is glad to see his former teammate in the dugout for this game.
He said: “What I like about Barry being there is, you know, he is there to give everything for the club to try and get confidence back in the dressing room.
“I think the players need to realise what it’s all about because if you play for a club like Rangers, then you need to give 100% every game.
“You can have a bad game, but as long as you always give 100% when you are wearing that jersey then the supporters will accept that.
“It’s also important to have a winner’s mentality; that is what Barry will want to bring back, and of course, the confidence.
“When you win games like the Fenerbahce game, that helps bring the confidence back and the players start to believe in each other again.”
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