Ben Davies has called on Rangers to maintain their momentum from victory over Real Betis by landing the first silverware of Philippe Clement’s Ibrox reign.
The Belgian saw his side produce a rousing performance on Thursday night as goals from Abdallah Sima, Cyriel Dessers and Kemar Roofe earned top spot in Group C.
Rangers returned to Seville with it all to do after dropping five points against Aris Limassol earlier in the campaign. But their love affair with the Europa League continued as they followed up their win at home to Betis with a historic triumph by becoming the first Rangers side to see off Spanish opposition on home soil.
Attentions are now firmly fixed on Hampden and their shot at glory against Aberdeen in the League Cup final this weekend. And Davies knows it would be the perfect way to confirm the progress that Rangers are making under their new boss.
“The manager has got us together, he has got us playing well as a team,” Davies said. “Everyone is attacking together, everyone is defending together. You saw how hard the forwards worked against Betis.
“The manager has galvanised us a bit, he’s got everyone on the same page. But this feels like a big leap forward. It feels like a big result for us. But we have a massive game on Sunday, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.
“We know what Sunday means and straight after the game on Thursday we were looking towards it. It’s a chance for silverware.
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“As a club we’ve been through the cycle of Sunday, Thursday so we’re quite used to it now. We’re looking forward to the final because we know what it means.
“I wasn’t aware of that stat, I didn’t know Rangers hadn’t won in Spain. We knew at the start of the week it was a big week and we were able to make a bit of history on Thursday.”
Rangers twice saw their advantage eroded at the Estadio Benito Villamarín as the strikes from Sima and Dessers were cancelled out in the first half. After keeping Manuel Pellegrini’s side at bay, the stage was set for Roofe to emerge as the hero.
It was a night to savour for those that returned to Seville 18 months after the defeat in the final to Eintracht Frankfurt and the most significant step forward that has been taken since Clement replaced Michael Beale in the dugout.
READ MORE: Rangers can dare to dream in Europa League after historic Betis win
Sparta Prague also secured their progression from the section as a deflated Betis were left to settle for a place in the Conference League. The contrast in emotions at the end of a remarkable evening told their own story.
“It was a good result,” Davies said. “The manager instilled a lot of belief in us. And the first half certainly gave us a lot of encouragement. It was nice towards the end for Kemar to score the winner. There is no doubt we were hanging on a bit. Like most games in Europe we needed Jack to be on top form and he was.
“When you put it all together it’s a massive result. We try and focus on the game, the rest of that takes care of itself. We knew what was at stake on Thursday night and we knew what we had to do.
“We weren’t aware of the other result, but the Betis players were really disappointed at the end of the game so I had a rough idea of what had happened. To be honest, we were just focusing on ourselves because we knew what we had to do coming here. We had to win and we did.”
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