No caution is needed for Alfredo Morelos, Rangers’ top 19-goal striker, who is out with a knee injury. And: Two familiar faces can also be found in the Rangers squad. Left-back Leon Balogun played for Mainz 05 and Darmstadt 98 for a while, while striker Cedrick Itten scored against Eintracht for SpVgg Fürth in the first half of the season – but lost 2-1.
The trainer
Giovanni van Bronckhorst needs his own room at home for his trophy cabinet, the man won an impressive 17 titles during his career as a player. And that for well-known clubs like Arsenal, FC Barcelona – and Glasgow Rangers. The ex-captain of the Dutch national team has been working as a coach since 2011. At his first stop at Feyenoord Rotterdam he won the cup in 2016 and won the championship the following year. After a brief interlude at Guangzhou in China, he has been with Rangers since 2021.
Van Bronckhorst – not surprising as a Dutchman – prefers to play in a 4-3-3. The system is designed for attack, the style is passionate, the Rangers are particularly dangerous on the outside. By the way: van Bronckhorst’s assistant coach is an old friend. None other than ex-Bayern striker Roy Maakay puts on the cones for Van Bronckhorst.
Intersections with Eintracht
Eintracht and Rangers only faced each other in two games, but they had it all: In the semi-finals of the 1960 national championship cup, Eintracht received the favored Rangers in Frankfurt, and the roles seemed clear. Here the amateurs from Hesse, there the Rangers, who were considered the best British team at the time. But Eintracht overran the guests 6:1. No slip, in the second leg in Glasgow, the Hessians won 6:3, the entire stadium applauded Eintracht. Emil Östreicher, manager of final opponents Real Madrid, called Eintracht’s entry into the final “the greatest success in German football outside of Bern.” In the final, which took place in Glasgow of all places, there was a game of the century a few weeks later, which Eintracht lost 7-3 to Real.
Source: HR