Arthur's Column // 22nd February 2022

We play Borussia Dortmund on Thursday night and it has all the makings of a European classic.

The level of our performance and the 4-2 victory last week in Germany was as good as I can remember from Rangers. It was sensational. But here is plenty of hard work to be done. This tie is not over. Our place in the next round of the Europa League is far from guaranteed.

Marco Rose and his plates will be hurting from that result. They were heavily criticised for it and they responded with a 6-0 win against Monchengladbach on Sunday. So, right there is a major warning. And that was without Erling Haaland. However, I believe we can get the result we need.

We have some top performers of our own and if Ryan Kent, Ryan Jack, Alfredo Morelos, James Tavernier and Allan McGregor are all on form, then we should be fine. It's going to take a total team effort and that may include some important substitutions to get what we need.

I trust Giovanni to get it right. He knows exactly what he is doing. He got it spot on last midweek and he can do it again. But I'm also aware of the importance of getting victories in the SPFL Premiership. European football is always nice but the League is the priority.

Our results since after the winter break have been too inconsistent. The team dropped another two points at Dundee United on Sunday and that allowed Celtic to open up a three point lead.

The situation is not critical as the destination of the Title still remains in our own hands. But we need to put a run together and we really can't afford to drop any points between now and the international break at the end of March.

We actually played well on Sunday and we should have won by two or three goals.

We were a little bit unlucky in the opposition penalty box and we were also denied a stonewall penalty kick.

There are plenty of things to feel positive about and it would be brilliant to go through on Thursday night and then go into Sunday's game at home to Motherwell with a real bounce.

Two positive outcomes in the next two games can really set us up for the next three weeks.

Let's do it.