Rangers’ Scottish Cup win eases Europa League pain

By Associated Press

GLASGOW: Rangers ended a tumultuous week by winning the Scottish Cup after beating Hearts 2-0 after extra time in the final on Saturday.

Rangers lost the Europa League final on Wednesday night in a penalty shootout, and it went into another extra time on Saturday thanks to Craig Gordon’s save with his foot from Joe Aribo near the end of regulation time at Hampden Park.

However, they dug deep yet again and two goals in three minutes by substitutes Ryan Jack and Scott Wright gave them the Scottish Cup for the first time since 2009.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst won the cup playing for Rangers in 2000, and captured his first trophy as manager after taking over from Steven Gerrard in November.

There were doubts beforehand about Rangers’ response to their European disappointment. They were shattered by their shootout defeat in the Europa final to Eintracht Frankfurt in the heat of Seville and, on returning to Glasgow, they then attended the funeral of former kitman Jimmy Bell.

Van Bronckhorst freshened the side with five changes, and hailed the players for their resilience.

“We had character,” he said. “At difficult moments we stand up, rise up and go again. That is important for us as a club.

“We had the buildup to the final in very difficult circumstances. Mentally, the loss was also big because we lost on penalties.

“We had to fly back, yesterday we said farewell to Jimmy, in the afternoon we trained, and this afternoon we had a meeting about the game we wanted to play and the lineup.

“Again, I told them it was the chance to win something. All the hard work in the last couple of weeks and months was rewarded.”