Rangers fans start to flock to Seville as Europa League final draws near
Around 100,000 supporters are expected in the Spanish city
Last updated 17th May 2022
Rangers fans are making themselves at home in the Spanish sunshine in Seville as up to 100,000 make their way there for Wednesday night's Europa League final.
Planes, trains and buses full of supporters have been making their way to Spain from Glasgow, and all over Europe and the world, as the Ibrox side compete in their first European final since losing 2-0 to Zenit Saint Petersburg in the final of the UEFA Cup in 2008 in Manchester.
Just a fraction of the Rangers fans making the trip to Seville will be at the match at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium, although reports on Tuesday morning suggested they’d been able to buy up to 10,000 extra tickets for the game.
Some fans like Colin, though, are counting themselves lucky just to be in Spain. He told Clyde 1 News: “My son’s friend had booked to go with him and on Thursday he tested positive for Covid, so that was him out of the equation.
“It was then a case of either cancel or get someone else to go with, so I just stepped up to the plate, took one for team! But more than happy to be here.”
This year’s tournament has seen Rangers defeat the likes of Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig en route to Seville, and it’s another German side standing between Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men and European glory.
Eintracht Frankfurt have been on an impressive run themselves; going unbeaten throughout their Europa League journey and seeing off Barcelona and West Ham United in the knockout rounds.
The German side will also be well represented in Seville having taken tens of thousands of supporters on previous European trips. Clyde 1 News spoke to Frankfurt fan Fabian who’s just hoping the party atmosphere in Spain can continue: “I’ve met many Rangers supporters and they’re very friendly, I hope we have a good time together.
“I think the important thing is that we have a good party together, have a friendly match, and all enjoy the good time here.”
As some fans soaked up the sun in Seville on Tuesday morning others were just setting out on their journey.
Clyde 1 News spoke to Mark Ward, who lost his 22-year-old daughter Gabrielle to cancer 5 weeks ago.
This is the first respite he’s had is some time and says he’s hoping the team can do it in her memory: “We’ve not had a lot of respite recently so I’m going out to hopefully be celebrating some success, and hopefully Rangers can do it for Gabrielle.
“Gabrielle was also a Rangers fan, albeit her boyfriend was a Celtic fan which led to various debates in the house! But winning it for Gabrielle would be fantastic.”
As more and more supporters make their way to the Spanish city, Ally McCoist has become the latest Rangers legend to urge everyone to be on their best behaviour.
A video posted on the club’s Twitter sees the former Ibrox striker, and manager, appeal to fans to: “Please, please, please let’s all behave ourselves.”
It follows similar pleas from Graeme Souness, Richard Gough and Ian Durrant.