James Tavernier: Rangers can only control own destiny ahead of Bilbao tie

James Tavernier spoke of destiny ahead of Rangers’ Europa League quarter-final with Athletic Bilbao on Thursday night – and wants to return to the San Mames Stadium for the final.

The Light Blues held the Spanish side to a goalless draw in the tense first leg at Ibrox after playing most of the night with 10 men after defender Robin Propper was sent off early on.

The final is to be held on Athletic’s home turf and captain Tavernier spoke with determination about another appearance at the Spanish ground on May 21.

The defender said: “You always want to try to unsettle home fans when you play away.

“You want to frustrate the opposition, you want to frustrate the home fans and try to maybe cause errors within the game.

“These are one of the favourites for the competition and we’re obviously big underdogs but we’ve really got to relish this challenge and really be on the front foot and take the game to them.

“It’s a beautiful stadium, just walking around it and we obviously want to try and come back for the final.

“It’s all in our hands, isn’t it? You’re against 11 opposition and it’s in our hands to win the game, to give them a difficult night. We can only control our own destiny and that’s the main thing.

“We have to be all fully-committed, really aggressive tomorrow. Like I said, we’ll have to suffer but suffer together as a team and then attack together as a team. When I said the driving seat, that’s what I meant by that.

“We can only control our outcomes and what we do.”

Rangers reached the final of the competition in 2022, where they lost on penalties to Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville, and Tavernier revealed he has not looked at the game since.

He said: “I’ve still never watched a replay of the game. When I eventually hang my boots up I’ll revisit it but it was obviously a hard one because it was a penalty shoot-out, that’s something that really hurts.

“But to have that experience going all the way through the rounds and to get to the final, it’s once-in-a-lifetime stuff. Obviously we have a really good chance at this stage of the season.

“We know we’ve got a tough opposition tomorrow, the talent that they’ve got throughout the team but anything’s do-able as long as we all stick together and really push for it.

“It’s really important that we all play together as a team, I think that’s what got us to the final (in 2022).

“As a unit, as a whole team, playing together and just really working hard for one another.

“I think that’s key for tomorrow, doing the same like we did in the first leg, working really hard for one another, limiting their chances and just trying to keep 11 on the pitch and create chances and score.”