Rangers' Danilo desperate to fulfil father's wish as he reveals the EPL star he gets compared to

Not for the first time, there are several players with Dutch connections in the current Rangers squad.

Rangers' Danilo comes close top scoring a thrilling winner near the end of his side's pulsating draw with PSV at Ibrox on Tuesday (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Danilo liked the country so much he has applied for Dutch nationality. The striker moved to the Netherlands from Brazil in 2018 to join Ajax and has ambitions to represent the Dutch national side once official clearance comes through.

He will be hoping there are no PSV Eindhoven fans involved in processing these papers. Danilo returns to his adopted homeland this week with the intention of restricting Holland’s Champions League representation to just one club – his former side Feyenoord.

Finding the net against PSV in this Wednesday's Champions League play-off second leg would help to that end. Who knows how many goals Rangers might need after last week’s absorbing 2-2 draw?

Danilo, who came off the bench in the first leg, will feature at some point – ideally, as far as he is concerned, he will play from the start. He almost grabbed a late winner during his Ibrox cameo after pouncing on a rebound from Sam Lammers' saved shot.

The 24-year-old would dearly love to emulate the part played by Antonio Colak in Eindhoven a year ago. The Croatian striker struck the winner to send Rangers into the group stage of the Champions League for the first time in 11 years.

“It would mean a lot," said Danilo, as he contemplated a quick return to the Netherlands after signing for Rangers in July. “It was a place that gave me a welcome to European football."

He scored at the stadium last season for Feyenoord, although it was one of only two league games the eventual champions lost. Danilo capitalised on a mistake in the PSV defence to make it 2-2 but the hosts scored a late winner to secure a 4-3 win.

“There was a lot of emotion,” recalled Danilo. “It was a gift the defender gave to me. I hope we can get another gift but it’s a game where you never know what can happen.”

Danilo has never played in European football’s premier club tournament although he watched from the bench for Ajax. He’s getting closer to fulfiling the wish of his father to see his son play in the Champions League.

“It’s the dream of my father," he said. "He could not be a professional footballer but I’m glad that God gave me this talent and I can make his dream come true as well.

“It’s a dream and I’m going to do everything to try and make the dream I had as a boy come true,” he added.

“For every young Brazilian boy you watch the Champions League on the TV and you want to play in it. When you hear the music, it’s goosebumps, it’s everything emotional inside.

“I liked watching Neymar in the Champions League. I also saw a lot of Gabriel Jesus. Everybody talks about me having the same quality because I like to link up and also look for the goal."

Rangers will need this version of Danilo on Wednesday when they seek to repeat the outcome of 12 months ago. "I watched the game,” he said. “I remember it was 2-2 at home and at Eindhoven it was 1-0. Rangers are a team that is always going to fight.”