Talking about European leagues, there are many stories presented this season, including the arrival of former successful players in the past, who became coaches at their old clubs. The most famous name is of course Xavi Hernandez, who returns to Barcelona, this time as coach.
The Barca legend who came to replace the sacked Ronald Koeman is arguably quite successful in handling the team, whose condition is still in disarray. Despite failing to win a trophy and being eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League, the Blaugrana were able to bring it to qualify for the Champions League next season.
But, besides Xavi, there is one more name, who also came to his old club as coach, namely Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, who came back to Glasgow Rangers. Unlike Xavi, his former Barca teammate, Gio came as a replacement for Steven Gerrard, who chose to move to Aston Villa, in November 2021.
While playing, the former captain of the Dutch national team was widely known, especially when he strengthened Arsenal and Barcelona. But, before that, he had time to strengthen Glasgow Rangers in 1998-2001, having previously strengthened Feyenoord Rotterdam since the junior team level.
His record of achievement while playing at the Scottish giant club is quite good. He won two Scottish League trophies, one League Cup and a pair of Scottish Cup trophies.
Thus, the atmosphere of the city of Glasgow is not foreign to him. The club management’s belief in this Maluku-blooded man is also quite strong, because his record of achievement as a coach is quite good, especially when dealing with Feyenoord Rotterdam, between 2015-2019.
Under his direction, De Rotterdamers, who previously slumped under the shadow of the duopoly Ajax Amsterdam and PSV Eindhoven, won one Dutch Eredivisie League title, two KNVB Cup titles and two Johan Cruyff Schaal titles (equivalent to the Super Cup in Italy and Spain).
The league title was the first for a Dutch port city club in the new millennium. Thanks to his achievements, the former assistant coach of Feyenoord Rotterdam has emerged as a potential coach from the Netherlands.
Even so, a little doubt remains tucked in the minds of some Glasgow Rangers supporters. Understandably, before landing back in Govan, Van Bronckhorst had a brief, less-than-successful stint at Guangzhou R&F (Chinese Super League club) in 2020.
Plus, the Ibrox Stadium public is still not fully able to move on from the figure of Steven Gerrard. As is known, this Liverpool legend successfully brought home the Scottish League trophy last season, or the first in a decade.
Apparently, the doubt was slowly but surely successfully answered completely. Under his command, Gers was able to maintain status as a major competitor to Glasgow Celtic, a club that in the past decade had been so superior in Scotland.
In the Scottish Cup, the tactical concoction of the former Dutch national team left-back also successfully defeated Celtic in the semifinals. In the final, Iannis Hagi et al will face Hearts.
However, the most special achievement came from the Europa League. Incredibly, he has brought Glasgow Celtic’s arch-rivals to the Europa League final, for the first time since the 2007/2008 season, when Walter Smith’s team lost 0-2 to Zenit St Petersburg (Russia) starring Andrey Arshavin.
In the process, dark horse clubs such as Red Star Belgrade (Serbia) and Braga (Portugal) were successfully expelled, along with the German Bundesliga duo, namely Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig.
Uniquely, the club with a distinctive bright blue uniform will again face representatives of the German Bundesliga, namely Eintracht Frankfurt in the final. Frankfurt itself went a long way, having in the process eliminated teams like Barcelona and West Ham.
If you look at the progress of the team in Gerrard’s era, the Blue Light has actually developed quite a bit, and regularly appears in the knockout stages of the Europa League. With players like Iannis Hagi (son of George Hagi, legend of the Romanian national team), Alfredo Morelos (Colombia) plus additional loan players like Aaron Ramsey (Juventus), this team looks competitive.
But Van Bronckhorst’s great performance with Rangers shows that this team has seen a lot of progress in just a matter of months. Under his tutelage, Rangers not only stick to one game philosophy, but can be more adaptive, depending on the opponents they face.
In a sense, they can play pretty and aggressive, or pragmatic and defensive just as well. This is a key factor that brought the city of Glasgow club can go far in Europe. Interestingly, just like at Feyenoord, Gio has again successfully coached his former club while playing.
If they are able to triumph with Glasgow Rangers in the final later, especially at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, the arena of the Europa League final, then it is no surprise that the 2010 World Cup finalist will become the coach of a big team in Europe, and even become the “bondsoach” of Team Orange in the future. .
Because, this man who was born in 1975 has proven to be able to change the ordinary into the extraordinary in Rotterdam, and leveled up a team that was already pretty good in Glasgow, in just a few months. Will Gio’s debut season at Rangers end sweetly?
ASL
