Laudrup will be ready to break hearts in the final Bjorklund is an Ibrox worry but great Dane should be on the ball

Ken Gallacher, Chief Football Writer

22 Nov 1996

BRIAN Laudrup gave the Rangers support the news they wanted as the Ibrox team prepared to move to the Ayrshire coast in preparation for Sunday's Coca-Cola Cup final against Hearts.

The Danish internationalist, missing from the Champions League win against Grasshopper of Zurich, is being given until Saturday to prove his fitness by manager Walter Smith.

However, the player swept into a press conference at Ibrox yesterday and declared confidently: "I feel sure that I shall be fit for the final.

"The injury is improving and I am staying at Ibrox for treatment rather than going with the rest of the team.

I really don't see any great problem." Laudrup picked up the injury in training on Tuesday.

The thigh strain was bad enough to sideline him for the Grasshopper match, but he now reckons his steady recent progress will be enough to carry him back to another Parkhead date.

A return visit to the scene of his goal-scoring triumph in the Old Firm clash last week is something he savours.

"I have good memories of Celtic Park," said Laudrup.

"We won there in the semi-final and we won there again last week, and now we have this final there.

It is a big playing pitch, like Ibrox, and I enjoy the space you can find on larger grounds.

"Last May, when we played Hearts in the Scottish Cup final, it was one of the highlights of my career.

But I don't think this game will follow the same pattern.

Hearts were disappointed that day and now they will be looking to this game to change things around.

"They have new players who did not play back then and they will want to make sure nothing similar happens.

And they have the players who did play in the game and they will want to avoid any repeat.

"I also know that Hearts have been without a major trophy win for a long, long time and they will be desperate to end that run." It is 34 years since the Tynecastle team last won a major honour - and that was in this same competition.

But, while the men from Edinburgh chase winners' medals, at least one member of the Rangers team will be in the same position.

Jorg Albertz, rapidly becoming an Ibrox character, is playing in his first final since his senior career began.

"I was never in any major final during my years in Germany and now here I am playing in one so quickly," he said.

"It was my main ambition to play in the Champions League, and that is why I joined Rangers, and last night apart, that has not been as good as we all hoped it might be.

"But, once we make it nine-in-a-row, we will have another opportunity and I believe we shall be able to do better next time.

Before that I have to try to win a cup medal.

It will be my first and I want it to be the first one of many, many medals with Rangers.

"It will be a hard game, but I believe we shall win because we are the best team in Scotland.

Some results may have gone against us - and Celtic and Aberdeen are good opponents - but when we concentrate, we are the best.

I think we can show that and we can go on to win the treble this season." That remains a major ambition for all at Ibrox, but especially so for the captain, Richard Gough, who has announced that his career with the club will end this season.

Hardened by his years at the sharp end, Gough knows that Hearts will not be defeated as easily as they were in the Scottish Cup final.

However, he looks at the venue and stresses: "I have been on two winning sides at Parkhead in major finals - against Hibs and Aberdeen - and it would be nice to make it a hat trick this Sunday." Gough was happy that what will be his last appearance in a European game at Ibrox brought victory and went on to praise the performance of youngster Scott Wilson, who had slotted into defence in place of the Swede, Joachim Bjorklund, still an injury worry for the final.

Said Gough: "It augurs well for the future when young players such as Scott Wilson come in to play as well in big games.

A couple of years ago I thought that he was going to come through and then he lost his way a little, but now he is back.

"He has been working hard in the gym and just generally working hard at his game.

He has been very impressive.

It could be that he will be after my jersey this season, not just next season when I have gone." Wilson's credentials were endorsed by manager Smith as he looked back at his displays in the Champions League matches against Ajax and Grasshopper.

"Not many young players come into their first two games against such teams as the Swiss and Dutch champions," said Smith.

"He handled both with confidence and I was happy with what he did." Smith maintains that he will delay his decision on the two Scandinavians until tomorrow, but Bjorklund looks to be the main worry, and if he is out, then Wilson could be called in to make it a hat trick of big-occasion appearances to enhance his burgeoning career.

The Ibrox manager knows that the back-to-back wins over Celtic and Grasshopper have boosted his team's confidence, but he also must realise that the Champions League has been a lost opportunity for his side.

Now Rangers will cross the Channel on nothing more than another salvage mission, albeit one which could net the club another £500,000 bonus to add to the four or five million pounds they will collect from what has been a dismal campaign on the field but another lucrative one off it.

Taken from the Herald