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| Rangers fans have their photo taken with the Europa League trophy at the Plaza de Espana in Seville ahead of Wednesday’s final against Eintracht Frankfurt |
Rangers will not get carried away despite being only one game from making history when they play Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League final on Wednesday, midfielder Aaron Ramsey said.
The Scottish club, who are in their first Europa League final since finishing runners-up in 2008, will be bidding to win a second European trophy 50 years after they claimed the 1972 Cup Winners’ Cup.
“There’s a lot of energy around the place,” Ramsey told reporters. “Just looking forward to it, you’re one game away from making history.
“It’s a great group, a very level-headed squad, so there are no issues about anybody getting carried away.
“It’s obviously very difficult to reach this stage, you need a bit of luck along the way, but some of our performances have been brilliant. There is a lot of quality in this squad. I’m not surprised with what we’ve done and how we’ve gone about it.”
Ramsey did not feature in either leg of the semi-final tie against RB Leipzig, but started two of Rangers’ last three league games of the season.
The Wales midfielder said he was hoping to make up for missing Arsenal’s 4-1 defeat by Chelsea in the 2019 Europa League final due to a hamstring injury.
“It’s definitely right up there, to play in a final in a European competition,” added Ramsey.
“They don’t come around very often. Unfortunately I missed the Arsenal one a few years back, hopefully I can make up for it in this one.”
Frankfurt, who finished 11th in the Bundesliga this season, are the third German club Rangers will have faced in this edition of the tournament, having already knocked out Borussia Dortmund and Leipzig in earlier rounds.
Spain’s chief of police warned of the potential for ‘serious problems’ as Seville braces for an expected invasion of 150,000 Rangers and Frankfurt fans.
“It’s too many people with too much alcohol, the majority without tickets for the game and lots of construction sites around the city, a recipe that could lead to serious problems,” Juan Carlos Castro Estevez, Spain’s General Commissioner for Citizen Security, said.
He said 100,000 Rangers fans were expected with 50,000 from Frankfurt as the two clubs battle for the title that will qualify them for next season’s Champions League.
While warning that the policing operation will be one of the most “difficult challenges they have ever had,” he said he was confident the showpiece could pass off without major problems.
“We are trying to do everything right and we have a lot of experience with situations like this, although that does not mean that there will be no problems,” he said.
“We will host two fanbases that drink a lot. These citizens, who are used to drink warm beer in their countries, when they find our fresh and cold beers, will drink even more.
“But we sincerely believe that we have sufficient and prepared units to counteract the problems.”
REUTERS
