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| Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Manager of Rangers lifts the Scottish Cup trophy following victory in the Scottish Cup Final match between Rangers and Heart of Midlothian at Hampden Park on May 21, 2022 in Glasgow, Scotland. |
Rangers ended a tumultuous week by winning the
Scottish Cup after beating Hearts 2-0 after extra time in the final on
Saturday.
Rangers lost the Europa League final on Wednesday night in a
penalty shootout, and it went into another extra time on Saturday thanks to
Craig Gordon’s save with his foot from Joe Aribo near the end of regulation
time at Hampden Park.
However, they dug deep yet again and two goals in three minutes by
substitutes Ryan Jack and Scott Wright gave them the Scottish Cup for the first
time since 2009.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst won the cup playing
for Rangers in 2000, and captured his first trophy as manager after taking over
from Steven Gerrard in November.
There were doubts beforehand about Rangers’
response to their European disappointment. They were shattered by their
shootout defeat in the Europa final to Eintracht Frankfurt in the heat of Seville
and, on returning to Glasgow, they then attended the funeral of former kitman
Jimmy Bell.
Van Bronckhorst freshened the side with five
changes, and hailed the players for their resilience.
“We had character,” he said. “At difficult
moments we stand up, rise up and go again. That is important for us as a club.“We had the buildup to the final in very difficult circumstances.
Mentally, the loss was also big because we lost on penalties.“We had to fly back, yesterday we said farewell to Jimmy, in the
afternoon we trained, and this afternoon we had a meeting about the game we
wanted to play and the lineup.“Again, I told them it was the chance to win
something. All the hard work in the last couple of weeks and months was
rewarded.”
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