Eintracht Frankfurt v Rangers: 'Everest beckons as miraculous European adventure reaches climax'

On Friday evening, the redoubtable Charles Young was driving to Greenock Town Hall for a speaking gig when he caught sight of a Volvo in his rear-view mirror, so close that Chico could spot the determined and slightly desperate look on the driver.

The great man was terrified that he was being followed. He sped up and slowed down, but still the guy stayed in his slipstream. He was in an agitated state when the Volvo pulled up next to him at the entrance.

He said that a man got out of the car and admitted that his backside was getting tighter.

We don't know if Volvo Man is in Spain or if he is part of the mass movement of Rangers people. It would be hard to pick him out in the crowd if he is. There are 100,000 Bears travelling.

They have come in from all directions. There are multiple charters in Glasgow. Some have traveled to Sevilla via Marrakesh, others have gone to Glasgow. There are stories of people coming up from the Southern Hemisphere. People called the company to see if they could book a hot air balloon to get them to Spain. The owners thought it was a storm. It was not.

If Rangers beat Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday night, there will be thousands of stories that will become legend. They will be passed down the generations, some real, some exaggerated or invented, but still magnificent.

There is a fantastic madness to it all. This is the second European final for Rangers. Who knows when they will be in another one and how many of their fans will be alive to see it.

Three Scottish clubs have won a trophy of this magnitude. Only three captains have led a Scottish side to this kind of glory. The fourth could be James Tavernier.

The entire Rangers story is part of history. They have come through the hideous Craig Whyte era and the Charles Green years and have counted the unpopular Easdale brothers out again.

Over the past decade, there have been many unwanted characters in the landscape, including Brian Stockbridge and David Somers. The references to the pornography baron and Mr Custard and Nanny McPhee will be enough to make Rangers fans shiver.

They lost to Annan Athletic and Peterhead in the bottom tier of Scottish football. Two of the defeats were at Ibrox. They lost games against Alloa Athletic, Raith Rovers and Queen of the South before being beaten by Motherwell in a bid to reach the play-offs. Motherwell beat them 6-1. The Rangers player punched Lee in the face. Police Scotland got involved. Embarrassment.

Five years have passed since Pedro Caixinha was knocked out of Europe by Progres Niederkorn. Losing to the fourth-best team in Luxembourg was the most embarrassing defeat in Rangers history.

And now this. This is not the same planet as before. Scottish football is a wonderfully unpredictable place but even allowing for the bizarre, this takes the biscuit. Rangers only won one of their first six games in Europe. They lost their manager and five other people.

They lost their main strikers, Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe, in knockout games. Ramsey has barely kicked a ball. They prevailed. They drove on. They made it to the final and are considered favorites to win it. In a word, brilliance. In another word, miraculous.

Getting here isn't enough. It cannot be. You only have to listen to the Celtic players talking about how much they disliked watching a replay of the Uefa Cup final loss to Porto in 2003 in order to understand what agony in football is all about. The players of 2008 will be the same. The tag of runners-up is meaningless to these guys.

The toughest part is upon them now that they have come so far. If they win this will be the greatest game of their lives and if they lose it will be the most wounding game of their lives. Either purgatory or immortality.

In recent days, Rangers have been showing videos of great clubmen talking about the importance of good fan behavior. They have been mocked, but there is an obvious logic to it. Everybody remembers 2008 in Manchester and some remember 1972 in Barcelona and nobody wants to go back to those dark places.

There is a mortal dread of trouble with almost 150,000 fans from both clubs gathering in the city. The action on the pitch at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium is all that matters, the hope is the football is the talking point come Thursday morning. The wish is that everyone from Scotland and Germany stays cool.

This season has been an adventure for Rangers, beginning in Sweden, moving on to Armenia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Serbia, Portugal, back to Germany and now Spain. There are nine different countries and 19 matches. Steven Gerrard signed most of the players who will feature, but Giovanni van Bronckhorst has taken them to a different level.

He has got the best out of John Lundstram, who has become a colossus, he has twisted and changed his formation to suit, he has come across as astute and clear-headed despite operating in the maelstrom of knockout European football.

They won't be able to tap into the raw emotion that their stadium can provide because they won't have the 50,000 screaming them on this time. There will be close to 20,000 Rangers fans inside the stadium. The 20,000 need to make noise twice and three times. They will be trying to do the same thing. An amazing thing could happen here.

Rangers are going up against a side who have had a miserable season in the German league, but a side that went to Real Betis, Barcelona and West Ham and won, a group of players who keep it compact and then strike out like adders.

Eintracht doesn't mind losing the possession battle. They lost it in five of their six knockout games, but still managed to record more shots on target than the opposition. Rangers are advised not to be too gung-ho.

They have pace and devil through the Serb left wing-back, Daichi Kamada, the Japanese attackingMidfielder, and theColombian forward, Rafael Borre. Not household names, but names to respect. Kostic has had the most assists and attempts on goal. They are dangerous.

Allan McGregor of Rangers has made more saves than any other goalkeeper in the tournament. They have a goal scorer in Tavernier, who has opened the scoring in five knockout games for Rangers this season, as well as another goal scorer in Calvin Bassey.

Lundstram has become a beloved member of the Rangers support. Ryan Kent will bring his best stuff. His club needs his talent, but it is inconsistent. What about Ramsey? A brief appearance off the bench? Could he save his best for the biggest day?

Rangers are well-drilled, completely focused and one game from footballing heaven. This is the stuff of fantasy, but it really is. They were close to climbing Everest. They will be there one last push.