Van Bronckhorst talks Europa League final loss; says players devastated ahead of Scottish Cup final

Giovanni van Bronckhorst has talked about the upcoming Scottish Cup final between   Glasgow Rangers and   Heart of Midlothian FC, stating that their loss to Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Europa League final will affect them mentally going into the game.

Rangers braved a thorny path to the Europa League final, seeing off Borussia Dortmund, Red Bull Leipzig and also facing Olympique Lyonnais in the group stages to get to the Ramon Sanchez-Piszjuan Stadium in Seville.

They were one penalty shootout away from the trophy in their first European final appearance in 14 years, but veteran Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey, on loan at the club from Juventus in the Serie A, missed his spot-kick to hand their German opponents the title.

The loss is especially painful after they took the lead in the 57th minute through Nigerian midfielder Joe Aribo, and allowed Frankfurt to equalise 12 minutes later. It was a disappointing night for the team, especially Ramsey, who is only on loan at the club and will be returning to Juventus next season.

A win would have bolstered their confidence going into Saturday when they will take on Hearts in the final of the 2021/22  Scottish Cup. but manager Van Bronckhorst has said that it will be difficult to pick his team back up ahead of the game which closes out their season.

"Of course it's not going to be easy to get them ready because it's emotional," Van Bronckhorst said. "We are hurt and disappointed. We had the biggest game of the year last night but we have to play on Saturday.

"We are flying back with only one day to prepare, it will not be easy but we will do it, we will be ready for Saturday and try to end the season with a trophy."

Van Bronckhorst praises team for great Europa League run

As part of his efforts to lift the spirit of his squad ahead of their final against Hearts, Van Bronckhorst praised their efforts in the 120 minutes against Frankfurt. He also took the time to praise them for their brilliant run in the competition which saw them reach their first European final in 14 years.

"It was of course a big disappointment. If you lose a big final in Europe it will hurt," he said. "You do everything you can to win it and in the end it is a lottery and we weren't on the good side. But I can't complain with what my players gave and before tonight but in the end, it was a really tight game, it went all the way to penalties and we lost.

"It is a big disappointment because you are so close to winning a trophy but that's also football. If you play a lot of big games, big finals, we will have memories that last forever when you win them but when you lose it will hurt a lot.

"I lost the World Cup final - the biggest game there is and also a huge disappointment - but we have to move on, we have a big game on Saturday and next season we have to start all over again."

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